Lancer Gets Serious
by Bloble
Summary: A single order can change the shape of a the world, and a single command spell will change the outcome of one of the deadliest wars in history. For one Servant Lancer, that order would mean either victory, or death. Either way, the battle would be sweet.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The Holy Grail War. A battle fought with lies, secrets, magecraft, and most importantly, Servants. Historic heroes of legend that upon death ascended to the Throne of Heroes as a reward for their accomplishments in life. Summoned into roles, these heroes would do battle, each seeking a wish from the Holy Grail itself, an artefact capable of anything, even True Magic.

There have been 4 Grail Wars in history, each ending differently, but all of them having a single wish granted. These wars were bloody, terrifying, and collectively claimed the lives of thousands of people. Now, in the 5th Grail War, the time for battle had once again come.

A single Servant could turn the tides of the War. Each of the 7 heroes summoned could win, and each, no matter how powerful could lose. Making up for the differences in strength, Masters control their Servants, binding them to the World, keeping them from fading away.

And thus, in a church upon a hill, one Master made a decision that would change the face of the Grail War.

"I have grown bored." The man spoke. Garbed in the vestments of a priest, the man sat at a table, eating a bowl of mapo tofu. "I have... become tired of this monotony, Gilgamesh."

"Oh? It is rare for you to lose interest. I had thought that the Emiya boy interested you, Kotomine." His companion responded with a lazy expression, but his crimson eyes stared directly into the other's mind.

The false priest smiled. "He is the same as that man. I already know which path he shall choose." He stirred the meal in front of him, gazing into the mapo tofu's steaming innards. "I wish for something more than this... farce. If I do not act, this war shall merely become a repetition of the last."

The other person had the appearance of a man. He possessed all of the necessary attributes of a human, but he could not be called one. He was too different, too divine to be compared to a lowly being such as a human. Even an ordinary human could tell simply from the golden armour he was clad in, that this person was beyond humanity. "An interesting thought, but what about the current Grail War? Surely you do not intend to simply leave your post as the Master of Lancer unfilled? And do not forget, Kotomine, that I too have a stake in this War."

"I will not abandon my duties. I shall simply... turn the wheel of fate, and set it spinning once more. This war bores me, and all it requires is some prodding to... spice things up." Kotomine Kirei set down his spoon. He focused his mind, and sent a call through the command spells on his hand.

Almost immediately, a blur sped through the church, stopping instantly in the dining room. The man wearing a blue jumpsuit leaned on his crimson lance, waiting for a command. He too, like the false priest's companion, could not be called human. From his cobalt hair to his crimson eyes, his entire being radiated superiority, though not to the same extent as that of the golden Servant. "What is it, Kotomine? What do ya want this time?" He spat, seemingly annoyed at the sudden call.

"Lancer, I have decided."

Lancer's red eyes narrowed. "What do ya want me to do this time? Perhaps you wish me to fight each Servant once more, with my hands tied behind my back? Or should I go for the Masters this time?"

"Feh, nothing as ignoble as that." The golden king spoke. "I am sure it will be a task worthy of a dog such as you."

"You're on my list."

"**Lancer.**" The priest spoke. He looked the spearman in the eye and invoked his second command spell. "**Defeat every Servant in the War other than yourself. You may use your full power to accomplish this task, and do not return here until it is finished.**" As the spell on his arm unravelled, Kotomine felt its power flow into Lancer through their magical contract. There would be no refusing this order.

Lancer's surprised expression only lasted for a single moment, before reforming into his usual grin. "Finally! Took ya long enough, I was beginning to think you'd never let me get a decent fight in!" Without even bothering to hear the priest's reply, Lancer dashed out of the church, no doubt already seeking his first target.

The golden man looked at the priest with disgust. "You'd let that whelp near my Saber? Kotomine, if he kills her..." The glare spoke plainly. What waited would be Death.

"He won't." The priest took up his spoon once more. "He will not win. You can remember that I did not order him to win the war, but simply to defeat the servants. And there is no way for him to succeed in that respect. Saber will defeat him, if he even survives long enough to get to her."

Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes. "You play a dangerous game. But you are correct. Lancer will die like the dog he is. And if he does kill Saber, then it is her fault for dying to a half starved hound. The Saber who belongs to me wouldn't lose."

"Oh? I was under the impression that you were fond of her?" The raised eyebrow made the Kotomine's question evident.

"If a possession cannot accomplish the task it was made for, then it is faulty. And faulty possessions must be... replaced. The dog will be a measure of whether or not she is suitable to be my possession. After all, a King should only accept the finest treasures into his chambers."

-Break-

Lancer sped across the rooftops, invisible in the night to any ordinary bystanders. As he headed into the heart of Fuyuki City, he thought over Kotomine Kirei's words. Something wasn't right.

"Defeat all of the Servants... not that I'm complaining, but why not just 'Win the Grail War'? This is just too good to be true." Contrary to his Master's opinion, Lancer was not a fool. This smelt of secrecy and plotting, both things Lancer despised on principle.

He stopped in the center of the commercial district, on the roof of one of the tallest buildings. Below, the entire city laid spread out, clearly visible. He could see all the way from the old half of the city to the brightly lit newer part. The Servant gazed upon it. Though he was no Archer, and thus unable to fully utilise the view, the locations of each enemy Servant were clearly etched in his mind, along with his Master's order.

"So he wants me to die? I should've known the bastard would throw me away eventually. Too bad, I'm not planning on dying. If he wants me to beat all of the Servants, then that's exactly what I'll do." Lancer didn't really care about his Master's intricate and often overcomplicated plans. As long as he knew where to point his weapon he'd be satisfied.

"This is a problem though... I won't be able to win at this rate." While Cu Chulainn always enjoyed a good battle, a loss was not something he wished to experience. Not when it could be easily prevented. "Bah, I'll think of something later." He finally decided. "Right now, there's only one thing I have to decide."

"Who do I attack first?"


	2. Chapter 1

Ahem, this is my first story, and if you've actually read the prologue you'll know that it start Lancer, one of the more under appreciated characters in Fate/stay night. I aim to rectify this problem by showing just how awesome our Lancer can be! Please note that this story will contain spoilers to many things not shown in the anime. I've taken abilities and characters from various sources, including all three routes of the original VN, and even Hollow Ataraxia, but knowledge of anything past the anime or first route isn't required, though it is recommended to get the full reading experience.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 1: Rider Part One<p>

Rider. One of the classes in the Grail War. Characterised by the ability to ride, and summon mythical creatures from their lifetimes. Riders are well known for having weak stats overall compared to others, but a Riding skill that can even boost their power when on a vehicle. In addition, Riders usually possess powerful Noble Phantasms capable of slaughtering armies. A class that must never be underestimated.

Lancer had only once fought this war's Rider, and even to him she was a complete mystery. In their fight she'd been able to keep up with his speed through sheer agility, and her unorthodox fighting style was hard to pinpoint. She had not used a single Noble Phantasm.

Indeed, this war's Rider could be called exceptionally dangerous simply because of the unknown abilities she could possible possess.

"I guess I'll have to take her down first." Lancer finally stood from his contemplative crouch. "Now where was her base?" As much as he tried to remember, the place wouldn't come to him. "Ah, guess I'll have to use Berkana then."

"**Berkana"** Lancer raised his free hand, and traced a single rune into the air. As a pupil of the witch Scathach, Lancer could fully utilise the 18 primary runes, and was an accomplished magus in his own right. Berkana was best used for tracking, precisely what Lancer needed at the moment.

A house. In the old district. A magical barrier. And, the smell of a rotten power, barely noticeable behind the thick walls of magecraft protecting Rider's fortress. The home of an accomplished magus. All those images burst through his mind in a single second, and Lancer instantly knew where to go.

Lancer launched himself into a run, leaping over the rooftops. A short time later, he settled himself on top of the roof of a house close enough to the Matou manor that he could see anything going in or out, but far enough that Rider wouldn't be able to sense him.

"Now let's see how the lass reacts to some firepower." Lancer raised his free hand, and traced a single rune into the air.

"**Ansuz" **The traced rune glowed bright red in the air, and Lancer felt the magical energies near him begin to collect in a single point. Normally a rune used for communication, Ansuz could also increase magical energy, and even collect the passive prana in the air. It was useful for situations in which Lancer could not use his own od to fuel a technique, such as now.

After a certain point, the rune could not be seen, as the light of the prana gathered around it rivalled a miniature sun in its glory. Once again, Lancer traced the rune, but this time backwards. With a sizzle, the two runes combined, and the light changed from a deep red to an angry orange.

The glowing ball began to warp, and shrink, growing smaller. When it reached a certain point, Lancer simply flicked it, and the ball of energy flew like a stone fired from a sling towards the Matou house.

However, once it reached a certain point, it halted, crackling in the air. Lancer briefly spotted a complex boundary take form at the exact point of impact, absorbing the energy of the blast. In seconds the rune was gone, eaten by the boundary field as if it had never existed.

"Tch. Absorption? What a bummer. So I can't even think of going inside without getting my prana drained? Talk about a home field advantage." Lancer scratched his head. Rune magic, while his area of expertise, was still a very limited field, and Lancer wasn't capable of creating effects as flexible as breaking an absorption barrier. If he wanted to fight Rider he'd have to get her to come to neutral territory first.

While thinking, however, Lancer noticed a figure walking down the street towards the Matou house. Upon closer examination, it appeared to be a student. A very special one...

Lancer smiled. He had found his plan. "Gotcha."

-Break-

Matou Sakura. A student returning home from school. And also secretly the Master of Rider, holding the command spells that could control the Servant's will. Going home could be said to be one of her most hated activities, right under having to train her magecraft with her Grandfather.

Yet she did so every day, even when she'd rather have stayed with her Sempai, Emiya Shirou. Today could not be called any different, although the addition of a certain female Servant to her Sempai's household was worrisome. It was precisely because of her worrying over Sempai that she didn't notice the figure in front of her until she bumped into it.

"Ah!" She stumbled backwards. "I-I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention!" She bowed, her cheeks colouring. When she finally looked up, however, the opposite happened, and the blood drained from her suddenly pale face.

"Oh, it's no problem at all." Lancer grinned. Dressed in full battle regalia, none could possibly mistake him for an ordinary human. Especially not a magus also participating in the Grail war. "Now, lass, I'll need you to come with me for a moment."

Sakura opened her mouth to scream for Rider, but before any she could say a thing, the world turned black.

-Break-

"Tch, women these days are too soft." Lancer grumbled, as he slung the unconscious girl over his shoulder. He leapt up to the nearby roof. "One chop to the neck and she's down. At least it makes it easier, if not more boring."

"Of course, their breasts seem to almost have disappeared in comparison. I must've hit the jackpot with this one." He jumped; making sure the girl wouldn't get hurt in the confusion. In no time at all, he'd reach the battle ground. And then, all he'd have to do was wait for the fight to start.

No decent Servant would ever leave their Master to die after all.

-Break-

Sakura woke up with a start. "Wha? Where...?" She couldn't see very well, the entire world seemed blurry. She noticed some bright lights, and a chilling wind whipping past her. She moved to rub her eyes, but nothing happened.

"Huh?" Sakura tried to move her hands once more, but they refused to follow her commands. She tried the other, but once again there was no response. "What is this...?" Her body would not listen. Anything below her neck simply refused to move. She craned her head downwards, and saw that she had been tied to a wall, apparently with metal fixings, beyond her strength to even bend. The concrete and steel formed a prison that her limited magecraft could not break.

"Oh? Awake already? Impressive, most ordinary humans wouldn't have been able to move for another hour at least." Her eyes shot upwards, and she could make out a blurry blue figure. With a start, the events of the past few seconds came rushing back into her mind, and Sakura finally realized her actual predicament. A few blinks and the blur faded, leaving behind only the shape of a Servant, his blood red eyes staring into her own, and a bloodthirsty grin plastered on his face.

_Ah. _Then she realized. _I'm going to die here. He'll kill me. And I'll never see Sempai again..._

As if he'd read her mind, Lancer's smile widened even more. It didn't reassure her. That face seemed more suited for a visage of hate or lust than peace, so the smile on his face did not suit him at all. "Don't be worrying yourself lass, I won't be killing ya just yet. After all, if you die then so will your Servant, and I can't be having that."

"B-But, isn't killing me your goal?" Sakura blurted out. She'd learned of the mechanics of the Grail war from her grandfather. Any Servant would swiftly fade without a Master, and indeed killing a Master was a valid tactic when faced with an unbeatable Servant. So why had this man let her live?

Lancer shook his head. "Alright. Since I'm still waiting for your Servant to show up, I guess I could tell you a bit about why it is I do the things I do." He smirked, and traced another rune, this time directly onto Sakura's forehead.

"Ah!" A bolt of lightning hit her heart. She felt a current run through her body, targeting her magic circuits, and paralyzing them. As soon as it had begun, it ended, and once more her body felt limp.

Lancer nodded in approval. "Good, this should hold ya for about an hour or two. Now listen up. I was ordered by my Master to defeat every Servant in the Grail War, not win, and I'm not really fond of killing innocent girls who can't even put up a fight. So." He poked her in the forehead. "I'm gonna let you live until I kill your Servant. If I end up dying, you're free to go!"

"Wouldn't it be easier to just get rid of me?" She asked. Indeed, fighting Rider could not be called an intelligent choice when the other option seemed much easier and quicker. No person would simply spare a mortal enemy on a whim, after all.

Lancer just shrugged. "Maybe, but it wouldn't be nearly as fun. Of course, if you _want _to die..."

"NO! I mean, I think I'll just wait for Rider to save me."

"Good choice."


	3. Chapter 2

In my story I don't plan on changing any aspects of canon, but I may take some parts of it that aren't exactly clear and apply my own take on them. Still, if you see any inconsistencies please don't hesitate to review and inform me of them.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 2: Rider Part Two<p>

She soared.

The woman leapt from building to building as if gliding on wings, each step light and quick, yet staying in the air for the longest time before stepping once more. The sheer speed of her movements matched that of a top model race car, yet to her, it wasn't enough.

_I need to go faster. _Servant Rider thought, as she increased her speed once more. Her surroundings became a blur. _Fast enough to save her...! _The backgrounds meshed together to form a watery image, as Rider unlocked all of her strength to reach Matou Sakura before the enemy could finish her off. Bystanders lucky enough to be watching the rooftops would see a slight flicker as the only sign of her ever having passed by.

As she entered the business districts and the Western households gradually became high rises, Rider simply switched from running to climbing, dashing up the sides of the buildings as if gravity had no hold over her. Her bond with her Master burned in her mind, leading Rider closer and closer to the destination. Just as it had warned of Sakura's capture, now it served as a beacon, broadcasting the girl's fear and surprise. It had been enough for Rider to realize Sakura's situation, and home in.

Her other 'Master', Matou Shinji, had initially insisted on coming with her, but Rider dismissed his whining. Speed was more important, and a passenger would only slow her down. She had left his cries behind.

"Sakura," she whispered "Hold on. I'll definitely protect you."

And once more, she soared.

-Break-

"Well it's been fun talking to ya lass, but it looks like the main guest has just arrived." Lancer turned from the form of Matou Sakura, which was shackled to a small concrete shape near the edge of the large building's roof, to face a completely different direction.

Sakura, still unable to move, looked in confusion towards the direction Lancer was facing. What could it be? No. She knew. He command spells throbbed, signalling the arrival of her saviour.

In the distance, she spotted a flicker. A shape, flying between rooftops, approaching her location. In seconds she could make out Rider's long pink hair. Moments later the blindfolded Servant cleared the top of the building with one final leap, and skidded to a halt on the opposite side of the roof from Lancer. The distance between them was only 100 feet.

Lancer beheld his opponent. A woman's form, and one taller than most. Rider had long pink hair that flowed freely in the wind. She was clothed in dark leather, for mobility and comfort. A magical blindfold oozing with power covered her eyes, and she clung to two curiously shaped daggers, connected with a chain.

Dressed for battle.

As was he.

"Why hello there." He broke the tense silence. "Looking for something?" He gestured with one hand towards the bound form of Matou Sakura, his other hand gripping his lance tightly.

Rider stayed silent.

"I could've easily killed her in this time," Lancer continued, unfazed. "But as you can plainly see, the lass still lives. Now, I'm gonna lay out the rules here. We fight, and the winner gets your Master. Plain and simple. So if you want to save her, you'll have to beat me first."

With the same hand he used to gesture, Lancer lazily traced a single rune over the trembling Sakura's forehead. "If you touch her while I still live, this rune will blow her head off."

Rider stiffened. The corners of her mouth dipped ever so slightly, but that was all the emotion she showed at the news.

Lancer smiled. "Relax. I'm a man of my word. You have my promise that if you beat me, I'll let her go. In addition, the barrier around her can stop even a Rank A Noble Phantasm, so there's no need to hold back. This girl's untouchable until one of us loses."

"So I can't grab her and try to run off," Rider finished with Lancer's other, unspoken promise.

"The fight is between us only." He shrugged. "This girl has absolutely no part in it other than serving as the stakes."

"Very well then Lancer."Rider sighed. "It seems you leave me no other choice."

"Of course. We will fight."

"And one of use will die."

""Let the battle begin.""

-Break-

They clashed.

Sakura watched, as the two Servants exchanged blows, both of them so fast that all she could see were two blurs clashing. The blue blur would stay in one place, raining down dozens of blows within a single second, while the pink blur ran circles around him, occasionally darting in to attempt a hit. Every single strike from Lancer she avoided, yet all of Rider's strikes fell short, the two daggers unable to reach her opponent. Sakura couldn't tell which was winning.

Rider jumped back, avoiding a thrust from the crimson spear. She found her footing, and immediately another strike flew towards her head. A minute twist of the neck and it missed by inches. She tensed, ready to charge, and caught another blow on her daggers as it flew towards her heart. She charged, while the lance spun in her opponent's grip. Her left hand moved, and a dagger flew towards Lancer, as fast as a bullet.

Clang!

It bounced off the shaft of his spear, off to the side. Rider immediately stopped, and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a flurry of thrusts. As the dagger returned to her hand, she immediately raised it to ward off yet another blow from Lancer.

The lance skittered across the tiny weapon's surface, allowing Rider the moment necessary to escape Lancer's blow. He retaliated by turning the thrust into a sweep, knocking Rider backwards, temporarily out of range for both of them.

_Amazing. Lancer is supposed to be the most agile class, yet this lass is matching me on speed alone! _Lancer's smile had long ago morphed into a feral grin, and he was truly at the height of his battle frenzy. The only thoughts left in his mind were the thoughts of victory. And so, screaming his battle cry into the air, he charged.

His attack was simple. A thrust towards the head. Rider ducked, and it sailed over her shoulder. However before she could move Lancer had already launched another strike towards her heart. Interposing her right dagger before the attack stopped that as well, but almost as soon as the one thrust ended, another stopped. Head, chest, leg, stomach, liver, groin, shoulder, wrist. The storm of thrusts grew faster and faster, each one a critical or crippling blow that Rider could not afford to allow.

Arm: She yanked back her hand, and the disarming blow became a simple scratch, not enough to draw blood.

Leg: A step to the side caused a potential killing blow to dissipate as a tiny cut, barely enough to be felt, and too shallow to slow her down.

Shoulder: A knife deflected the lance upwards, and it sliced lightly across skin, instead of bone.

Chest: She spun to the side, and the spear instead of breaking skin instead sliced her clothes, a testament to how close the blow came to piercing her heart.

Head: Already in a stretched position, Rider could not block the blow. She watched in slow motion as the point of the unholy weapon slowly cut through the air, heading for her forehead. There was nothing she could do but lean backwards and hope to outrun it.

A spray of blood flew across the air, and Rider's blindfold cracked.

Lancer spun his lance, and unleashed the finishing blow with both hands. It flew straight towards the form of his enemy, still standing with her head stretched out backwards. From that position blocking was impossible.

Clang!

Yet now he watched in slow motion as his lance's point spun away from Rider, pushed away by a single dagger, with the other one already heading for him!

Awkwardly Lancer twisted to the side, but it was too late, and the knife scored a wound across his chest, slicing easily through his thin armour.

"Guh!" He jumped back, weapon at ready, while Rider slowly straightened from her unnatural position, settling into a low stance with her hair covering her face. The slow dripping of blood stained it red, the lighter pink giving way to the darker colour.

"**Breaker Gorgon," **Rider spoke, her voice deeper than it had been before. **"Release."**

The two broken halves of her blindfold clattered to the hard cement, along with a few drops of blood. Lancer felt a Noble Phantasm being invoked, but there was no discernable difference in Rider's stance. Reluctant to retreat, he charged once more.

Only to stare into Rider's naked eyes.

Eyes like crystals.

Crystal.

Stone.

Why did his limbs feel like stones?

As soon as Lancer gazed into those eyes, he felt himself slow down, and a curious feeling of sleepiness permeated throughout his entire body. Almost casually, Rider batted aside his attack, and launched a dagger at his face. It was slow, and would be easy to dodge. Lancer inclined his head to the side, but for some reason the dagger struck, cutting his cheek.

Lancer jumped back, once again with an implacable lag, but still enough to widen the distance. Rider, however, grasped both her daggers, and took the offensive.

A slash from her dagger. Lancer raised his spear to block and found himself once again too slow, as Rider's weapon scored a direct hit on his shoulder. Yet for some reason there was no pain. Instead, all he felt was the slow numbing of his body as it slowed down.

"Grr.." Lancer swung, but Rider simply hopped over his strike, and let loose one of her own.

"Guahh!" Lancer felt the sharp pain as the weapon pierced the arm he'd managed to block with, but bit back a curse and swept towards Rider with a swing. She jumped back, once again in a low stance.

Lancer shakily assumed his stance, but Rider had already charged by then. A single dagger swung, but he managed to wrap it around his lance before it could strike. Rider didn't slow down. She only paused to kick away Lancer's weapon, and jam her free dagger directly into Lancer's chest.

"Ah!" It sank in to the hilt, and if Rider had bothered to look she would've noticed it poking out of Lancer's back. They made eye contact once more, and once more Lancer stared into those crystal orbs.

Crystal.

Noble.

Mystic.

Of course.

"Guh!" Too close to use his lance, he traced a single rune across the air, directly in front of Rider. He felt the energy gather from the air, as his life blood left his body.

"Not happening." Rider simply jumped back, and the subsequent burst of flame failed to reach her.

"You... bitch..." Of course. Her eyes, they were Mystic Eyes! Probably of Petrification, considering the heaviness covering his limbs. No wonder he couldn't move...

"Hmph. Your loss was assured the moment you started a fight with me." Rider purred, as she licked the blood off of her knife. "And for what you've done to Sakura, I'll make your death long and painful." She readied her daggers for the killing strike.

With a single move, she'd reversed the situation. What could an already crippled Lancer do against her Mystic Eyes?

She moved in for the kill. A single dagger flew towards Lancer's heart. Once more, he wouldn't be able to stop it!

Clang! Slash!

"...What?" Rider froze, on the opposite side of her opponent, as their backs faced each other. She raised a trembling hand to her stomach, and felt blood gurgle around her fingers. She turned, shaking, to face her enemy, only to find Lancer calmly leaning on his spear already looking at her. Exactly the same.

No. There was one difference. A single rune, drawn on his forehead in blood.

"N-Not bad, lass." He coughed, and blood ran down his front, but he didn't even seem to notice. "Ya did good, but you forgot one thing." His smile hadn't changed. "I'm in the business of killing monsters. Your pretty little eyes aren't going to be very useful anymore."

Rider snarled. The wound in her stomach burned, and she felt the strength fade from her limbs. She wouldn't be able to fight at full strength in this condition!

_But he's hurt too... and worse than me. I should have had the advantage even without eyes! How could he have...?_

Lancer's wounds were numerous, most importantly; the one in his chest under most circumstances would've meant instant death for an ordinary human. Yet he stood, without even a slight wince, ready to fight.

"It's in my legend." He spoke, at Rider's shocked gaze. "I got stabbed in the gut, but I strapped myself to a rock and kept on fighting until I finally bled out." He slowly raised his lance into a fighting stance. "If you want to kill me, then don't half ass it, girl. Cut off my head or destroy my body, because if you don't my corpse will chase you to the ends of the earth."

_This man... he is insane. _Rider knew. That wound was life threatening. Even Servants it would normally incapacitate. But this man was a fool. He would fight with that wound, and he would win. No. She could not defeat this man unless she destroyed any chance of victory for him!

"Very well then, I shall show you my true power, and destroy you completely." She coughed. Abruptly, the blood from her wound began to glow. All of her blood, even that which had already fallen to the ground, rose, forming a mystic circle in front of her. The blood formed once more into the shape of an eye. And when it was finally completed, it glowed.

Lancer had to close his eyes simply to keep from being blinded, and as he opened them he saw a comet appear in the sky.

No. It wasn't a comet.

There was Rider. The horse which bore her was a pure white, untainted by the ugliness of the mortal realm. Its wings were thick, and it floated easily in the breeze. He could feel ancient and godly power emanating from it. A divine beast. The winged horse: Pegasus.

"So this is why you're a Rider." He said. "It makes sense now."

"Lancer!" Rider roared. "This is my true power! I shall crush you with all I have! Prepare to die!"

And in her hands yet another light materialized. A bridle of light manifested, and she gently placed it around Pegasus' neck. "Just once, child." She whispered to her steed. "Please support me in my battle." Pegasus whinnied in agreement, and the glow of the reins increased. Its power now infused into Pegasus, she called out the name of her true Noble Phantasm.

"**The Bridle of Chivalry: Bellerophon!"**

The glow increased tenfold. Rider now truly resembled a shooting start cutting through the night sky, and lancer could not see her form through the divine light of her Noble Phantasm. Pegasus reared, and flew straight at him!

"Whoah!" With a full power roll to the side, Lancer managed to escape the deathly comet, yet it simply swooped by him, shearing away at the roof of their fighting ground. As soon as it reached the sky, Pegasus turned around for another run, and charged once more!

This time, Lancer couldn't fully avoid the damage. As he jumped out of the way, his arm was struck by the flying death. A sizzling could be heard, and as Rider retreated to the sky once more, his arm was left a burnt husk.

"Tch. I can't even hit her like this." Lancer muttered. "Fine, guess I'll have to improvise and hope for the best!" He dashed to the edge of the building, and Rider twisted around for another charge. Lancer leapt straight into the air, his spear held in one arm, the other straight out in front of him.

As he charged prana into his lance, he finally called out its true name as a Noble Phantasm.

"**Gae..."**

Rider charged. This time she focused all of her energy into this one strike, which the enemy wouldn't be able to dodge while in midair!

"**Bellerophon!"**

The star became a meteor, and the meteor became a comet, a divine strike from the gods themselves, that would crush any opponent in its path! Her Noble Phantasm was more powerful. She could feel the curse of that lance from hundreds of meters away, and it paled in comparison to Bellerophon's power. She would win this exchange for sure.

They clashed for the final time.

From Lancer's side, an explosion of power ensued. A blast on par with a Rank A Noble Phantasm fired as Rider attacked. It would've been enough to destroy any Servant.

But Bellerophon was even more powerful. Even an A rank attack could do nothing save slow it down for a single moment. Rider continued on, throwing out a dagger towards Lancer's position. In the air he wouldn't be able to dodge!

Yet it only hit empty air. "What?" Lancer was not there.

_Impossible! I definitely saw him, so how could he move from there? _Rider looked to both sides, but they were also devoid of enemies. She gazed down and behind, yet those two directions also held no enemy.

_So where is he? _Then she looked up.

A shadow, clearly outlined against the moon, burnt, bleeding, yet still carrying the same feral smile of victory, Lancer completed the name of his weapon. His outstretched lance was still pointed directly at Rider!

"**...Bolg!"**

Pain.

In her heart.

Why did it hurt?

He hadn't even hit her yet.

Ah.

That makes sense.

Now there was a spear in her heart.

But the pain, it definitely came before-!

"Haah!"

The Pegasus disappeared along with Bellerophon, as Lancer and Rider both fell towards the building. They picked up speed, and made contact with a mighty crash!

"Ha. Looks like it's my win, girl." Lancer spat out a broken tooth.

Gae Bolg. A cursed lance. No matter what, it would strike the enemy's heart without fail. It hadn't failed in that regard today. Even if Bellerophon had been superior in direct power, that concept remained.

"Your weapon was powerful, girl, but not very manoeuvrable. Dodging it was just like being in a bullfight. And I've killed plenty of monsters in my time. I'll admit it though, you were one of the toughest."

Rider didn't answer. Of course she couldn't. She was probably dead after all. The wounds inflicted by Gae Bolg could not be called ordinary. Indeed, they would not heal. And a direct strike to the heart was something that not even a Servant could survive.

Lancer slowly straightened, his lance still imbedded in the dead Servant's heart. She would no doubt begin fading any second now.

"So, now that I've won, I guess I'll have to decide what do with that Master now..." Lancer looked towards Sakura, still bolted to the wall. For some reason, she seemed to be crying . "Damn. I don't like having to kill women." With a sigh, he moved to pull his lance out of Rider's heart.

It wouldn't move.

"Huh?" He yanked again, harder, yet Gae Bolg seemed to be stuck in Rider's body. "What is this?" Lancer turned to face his fallen opponent.

A clawed hand closed around his wrist.

Rider was dying. He could see that. In mere seconds she would finally fade from existence. So why?

How?

How could she still move?

The hand gripping his tightened, green scales appearing, and the nails growing longer and sharper. It dug into his skin, drawing blood. The other hand clutched Gae Bolg, no doubt keeping him from taking it out. Rider's eyes were still open, gazing into his own with a monstrous fury.

"You." Rider pulled herself up the lance, bringing her body closer to that of the frozen Lancer.

"I... win." She choked, coughing out even more blood, but still pulling herself closer, until finally her hand closed around Lancer's neck. He knew that she could crush it with barely a squeeze.

"So... I choose... what happens... to Sakura." Her voice grew weaker, and rougher, as the last drops of life trickled out of Rider's broken body. However, her stone eyes still glared into Lancer's own, keeping him from moving.

"Promise." She whispered. "Promise... that you will protect her! In... my... place..."

Her body glowed, and slowly from the bottom up, started breaking apart into tiny lights, and fading like dust on the wind. Yet her eyes still stared into Lancer's own.

"...Yeah." He finally choked out. "I promise."

And so the Servant Rider faded away, while Lancer remained standing.

The battle had ended.

And Rider had won.


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It is owned by Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 3: Rider Part Three<p>

The sun sank. It faded and weakened as the horizon consumed it. The sunset was beautiful, especially when combined with a view from a tall building, but the two people on such a building paid no attention to the sunset. One leaned on a long spear, while the other sat against the railing, staring at her feet.

"Hey girl, are you okay?"

"..."

"C'mon, I'm asking seriously here."

"..."

"Listen, if you don't talk then I won't know what to do with ya, so say something already!"

"...Rider..."

"Eh?"

"You... killed her."

"Uhh, yeah, that's kind of the point. We're both Servants. We fought. She lost, so she died. If she'd won, she would've killed me too."

"She... wanted to protect me."

"Of course, you're her Master after all. She would've been a pretty crappy Servant if she hadn't tried."

"So it's my fault she's dead."

"...Oh no. You're not seriously blaming this one on yourself! Get it through your head girl, this is what the Grail War is all about! We would've ended up fighting eventually, it just happened earlier than expected." Lancer sighed. After a narrow victory over Rider, the last thing he wanted to do was spend the rest of the war babysitting a depressed Master. Yet here he was, trying to get her to talk so he'd know where to take her.

Sakura frowned. "If I'd been a better Master, she might have just run away, but because I was stupid enough to get myself kidnapped..." She lowered her head once more. Ever since Lancer had freed her from her bonds she refused to move.

Lancer groaned. Emotional women were always a chore when he had been alive, and even now he found himself surrounded by them. "Fine then. What do you think you could've done anyway? I'm a Servant for cryin' out loud! I wouldn't have lost against you even if you'd been a top class magus. It's not your fault this happened, it was just bad luck!"

"..." No response. Damn. Back to stage one.

"Alright, fine, whatever. Can you just tell me where to take you? I don't want to be stuck lugging you around with me for the rest of the War."

"Why... are you not killing me?" The girl finally spoke. Her flat voice would've sent shivers down an ordinary person's spine, but for Lancer it didn't even pierce his Magic Resistance. "You've already won! Rider's dead... so you have no reason to keep me alive..."

He frowned. "Tch. I'm not one to break promises girl, so don't take them lightly. I promised your Servant I'd protect you in her place, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Of course, I doubt you want to spend the rest of the War following me around, so I'd rather just leave you in a safe place. So tell me where you want to go."

"..." Once more there was no response.

Lancer sighed, and slowly knelt in front of Sakura. He put a single hand on her shoulder. "Listen. The bond between a Servant and a Master is somethin' special. I don't claim to know anything about you or Rider, but she was willing to risk her life to protect you, so she must've seen something worthy of protecting when she looked at you. If I had to fight her again, I'd kill her without hesitating, and she'd do the same to me. That's 'cus as warriors we respected each other. And I want to honour her dying wish as a warrior." He finished.

Sakura finally lifted her head again. The traces of tears on her face had long since faded, but her eyes were still red and puffy. Slowly, she rose to her feet. "Sempai. Bring me to Sempai."

"Now that's more like it!" He exclaimed. Swiftly Lancer scooped up the surprised girl in a traditional bridal carry. "Now where the heck is this 'Sempai' of yours?"

"Ah, he lives in the older district of Miyama, in a traditional Japanese house." Sakura recited a simple set of directions, and soon Lancer was back to hopping across rooftops, this time moving slower due to Sakura as a passenger.

As he passed by the houses, a recent memory entered Lancer's mind. "Hey, girl, this 'Sempai', does he have red hair? Average height? Doesn't die when he's killed?"

"Um, yes. He's slightly older than me and goes to the same school. Why are you asking? And what was that about dying when killed?" Sakura responded.

"Hehe, nothing, nothing at all." A drop of sweat ran down Lancer's neck.

_If this kid is who I think he is, I might not even make it out alive. Or maybe he's gotten over me trying to kill him that one time. I mean, he recovered, so it should be no problem. Right?_

"Alright, is this the place?" They stopped outside of a moderately large traditional Japanese residence. Lancer recognized it from his first, disastrous visit, including the boundary field surrounding it. He dropped Sakura off to her feet, and she steadied herself. A cursory glance and a nod confirmed the dwelling as being the correct one.

"Yes, thank you for bringing me here."

Lancer nodded. "Anyway, hurry up and knock so I can make sure this place is safe. I can sense the presence of a Servant, and I'm not sure if it's that blond girl or someone else."

Sakura blinked. "Blond... do you mean Saber? She's Sempai's Servant, and I don't think she'd lose this early in the war." But nonetheless, Sakura nervously knocked on the door, waiting with bated breath for an answer.

Almost instantly she heard the voice of her Sempai, Emiya Shirou. "Coming!" He called, and seconds later, the door to his house opened, revealing the red-head dressed in an apron for cooking, slightly stained with various food ingredients.

As he spotted Sakura, his smile instantly faded, replaced by a concerned look. "What's wrong Sakura? You don't look so good..." He trailed off, as he noticed that the girl in front of him looked ready to collapse any second.

Sakura tried for a smile, but her tear stained face ruined the expression. "S-Sempai... can I stay here for a while?"

"Of course! Hurry up and come inside, and you can explain everything once you've had some tea-" As he guided his friend inside, Shirou finally noticed the figure that had been standing behind her.

"Lancer!" He cried, his eyes widening. Lancer waved hello. "Saber! Get over here quickly!" Shirou reinforced the object held in his left hand, pointing it at Lancer while his other unceremoniously pushed the panicking Sakura inside. He planted his feet in the doorway, as if to ward it off from entry. "I won't let you hurt Sakura!" He yelled, preparing himself to try and block one of Lancer's blindingly fast strikes.

However, no such strike came.

"Geeze kid, learn to lighten up." Lancer smirked at the boy in front of him. "Who said I was here ta kill ya, or the girl for that matter?"

Shirou blinked. "Um, well... didn't you already try to kill me twice now?"

"Yeah well, I'd love to try for a third time, but not right now. I just got finished with another battle earlier, and I think I've filled my quota for the day." He explained. "I could do tomorrow though, if ya want, although you'll have to bring a better weapon than that." He chuckled at Shirou trying to seem intimidating. Sure the kid had body language down perfectly, but the pink spatula clutched in his trembling hands ruined the image.

The boy frowned, but didn't say anything. Nothing needed to be said after all. To him, Lancer was already an enemy. "Why are you here?" He finally spat out.

Lancer scratched his head with the tip of Gae Bolg. "Well... let's just say that due to some weird circumstances I came into possession of that little lady hiding behind your shoulders, and had to deliver her to ya."

Shirou turned his head to Sakura, leaving his body in the pseudo battle stance. "Is that true Sakura?" He asked her, not taking his eyes off Lancer.

She nodded hesitantly. "Um, well he did bring me here... and he promised to protect me from enemy Servants..."

"He promised to protect you...?" Shirou fell silent as he once more turned to glare at Lancer. "...Ridiculous! You can't trust this guy Sakura, he's dangerous!" He couldn't allow Sakura to be involved in the Grail War. Not her, of all people.

"I don't really care about what you think, kid." Lancer responded. "But a promise is something I won't break- "

A blur.

No, a figure.

Leaping over the stone wall surrounding the Emiya residence, the shining steel figure landed with a clank next to Lancer.

Before he could finish his sentence, the shining figure barrelled into his body, throwing Lancer away from the front door, and interposing itself between the two sides.

"What the-?" Lancer crashed into a lamppost almost 100 meters away, bending it almost in two, and the shining figure that had attacked him settled into a stance, and finally revealing itself fully to his eyes.

"You won't touch them." She growled. Blond hair, green eyes, and clothed in blue steel armour, the Servant Saber clutched her invisible sword, prepared to strike in an instant.

"Crap." Lancer shakily stood up, and slowly brought Gae Bolg up into a fighting stance. "Wait, Saber. I'm not here to fight-"

"I shall not hear your arguments!" Saber once more shot towards Lancer, and he barely managed to wedge Gae Bolg into position before her strike burst into it, and once more blasted him backwards. This time, he managed to stay on his feet.

"Gah!" He spat out a mouthful of blood. _Crap, I'm in no condition to fight now! I can barely stand up to her at the best of times, but like this I'll get torn to pieces._

_Still. _He straightened once more. "Girl, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get." _Should I try and beat her, or do I run?_


	5. Chapter 4

Please note that there are spoilers for Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia in this chapter. If you haven't played F/HA, then you will be spoiled. (Of course, I haven't played it either..., and it's impossible to get outside of Japan anyways, so you're really better off just reading this chapter anyway.)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 4: Kin<p>

"Tch." Lancer mentally weighed his chances against Saber. His opponent stood in front of him, already fully recovered from Gae Bolg's wound, even with its anti-healing properties.

In comparison, he was a mass of wounds; any lesser Servant wouldn't even have been able to stand. It was only his Battle Continuation keeping him moving at this point. His mana was half spent, one arm still had burns from Bellerophon, and a gaping hole in his chest prevented him from even breathing too deeply. All in all, against an opponent capable of opposing him at his strongest, Lancer wouldn't last a minute.

_No choice. _Lancer mentally resigned himself. _I'll have to postpone our fight for a second time. _"Sorry Saber," He growled. "But I'll have to put a stop on our battle once more. I'm afraid you've caught me at a bad time."

The blond swordswoman didn't even blink. She had noticed that Lancer had moved with an uncharacteristic slowness as she struck him. Perhaps he was wounded from a previous encounter with a Servant? Still, she couldn't let down her guard. Not with her Master so close, and so vulnerable. "I shall not fall for your trickery." She said, raising up her cloaked sword once more.

Lancer chuckled. "I didn't expect you to." With a sudden breeze, the spearman dashed, straight towards her, weapon poised for a thrust!

_What? _Saber barely managed to raise her blade in time to ward off a thrust aimed for her head. Parrying the blow, she swung towards the spearman, but her strike cut only air. Instinctively, she ducked, and rolled, as a thrust flew towards her from behind. _Even wounded he can still fight!_

Coming out of the roll, she struck out, towards her left, striking at a glimpse of crimson. Once more Lancer was forced to block, and the force of the blow shook his arms. _Tch. Even from that position her blows have force. I won't be able to last much longer; I'm pushing myself as it is!_

Saber stood facing her opponent. Though he'd blocked the blow, the sheer strength of the mana infused strike had been enough to reopen Lancer's chest wound. The blood dripped from the hole, pooling along the sidewalk. Saber narrowed her eyes, keeping them focused on Lancer's own. "So even in this condition you still challenge me?"

"I've fought in worse conditions than this." He replied. _At least I don't have to strap myself to a rock just to stand this time. _"But you're a tricky one. Not even showing mercy to a wounded opponent."

Saber simply brought up her sword in preparation to strike. "I will not repeat the mistake of underestimating you."

Lancer nodded, and then, that smile returned. The grin of bloodlust, only desiring battle; the haunting smile of the reaper. "Sorry, but like I said earlier, I'll have to put a stop to our battle, Saber!" With a hastily yelled rune flung towards Saber as a distraction, he poured a substantial amount of magic into Gae Bolg, preparing to use its ability once more. As he charged his weapon with prana, the rune became a burning magic flame, enough to burn through steel, streaking towards Saber!

"**Gae..." **The tip of his lance began to glow ominously. The demonic lance's aura could be felt even by an untrained human, but Saber's instincts screamed at her to flee.

Saber's eyes widened, "Fool! Did you expect me to fall for the same tricks?" An armoured hand smashed away the fireball effortlessly, and her legs tensed. With a single jump backwards, the swordswoman leaped over 50 meters back, towards the other end of the street, out of range of the Spear of Impaling Barbed Death. She landed, as the mana Lancer had placed into his weapon dissipated harmlessly in the air, unable to accomplish its intended purpose.

Now then, she was out of his range. She'd be able to hang back, and observe from a distance... Wait, no!

Lancer's grin remained. What had she forgotten? Was there something else?

"Hey lady, I'll admit that you're a good fighter, but you should pay more attention to your surroundings." Lancer muttered a few words under his breath, and swung his lance through the air several times in a single second, and almost instantly a large barrier materialized in front of him, crafted from rune magic. "This should take even you a few seconds to destroy." He finished.

"What, are you taking the defensive now?" Saber asked, still prepared for a surprise attack.

Lancer shook his head. "Why attack you when your Master is defenceless?"

"!" Saber twisted her head to look behind her, but all she saw was an empty street. She then took a look at Lancer's position. He was right in front of the Emiya residence, with Shirou and Sakura still inside! Somehow they had switched positions during the battle!

"Hah! You should've paid more attention to the people you're trying to protect, Saber!" Lancer turned towards the still open door, and the frozen Masters inside. He could see Sakura shaking in fear once more, and the boy as well, though he still held the pink spatula threateningly, as if it could help him ward off even a single blow. Even Saber would take precious seconds to breach his barrier, formed of all of every single rune he possessed. Those seconds would be enough.

"I won't let you!" Shirou charged, the spatula slicing through the air. As soon as it came into Lancer's range, it was blown away, the man simply flicking the impromptu weapon aside with a single finger. The other hand thrust singlehandedly with his spear.

Shirou felt the weapon hit his stomach, a hollow thud as the only sign of his impending death. The pain was mind numbing, he could feel his organs as they ruptured from the lance slicing into his guts. "Y-You! I won't... let... you!" With his free hand he launched a desperate punch towards Lancer's face!

Thud.

He blinked. The blow had landed, yet... why did his hand hurt?

"Ooh! Nice fist you got there kid!" Lancer nudged the offending limb aside as Shirou slumped to the floor. "But you should've stuck with defending. Or at least bothered to power yourself up a bit beforehand. Don't worry. I only used the blunt end, so you'll be fine." He gingerly stepped around the prone boy, once more looking into the eyes of a frightened woman.

"And as for you!" He grabbed Sakura's shaking hand, and pressed an object into it. "If you need anything, just put your prana into this. I'll be there soon."

He turned away, and leapt out the door just as Saber shattered his barrier with a single strengthened strike!

"LANCER! FACE ME!" She roared, as she brought down her sword. Blurring through the air, it would destroy any guard.

But Lancer had already disappeared. Saber whirled, seeking the spearman to exact revenge. Seconds later, she found him.

"Listen up, kids!" She heard his voice from above, and lifted her head. The spearman stood atop the neighbouring house's roof. He laughed, "You've got to step it up if you want to survive in this war! Saber, learn to protect people better if you don't want that suicidal Master of yours to die! If you survive long enough I promise we'll finish our fight then! Kid! I suggest learning to reinforce yourself better before trying to fight a Servant! Maybe get some runes if you're planning on going physical." He gazed down at the trio, eyes glowing crimson in the night, exuding the unmistakable aura of a victorious predator. At last he looked at Sakura, and for a single moment his eyes softened.

"Girl. Remember my promise! I'll protect you from now on, so if these two fail at keeping you safe, call, and I'll be there to kick the asses of anyone who tries to hurt you!" And with a final laugh, the Servant Lancer disappeared into the night sky. "Until next time!"

And silence returned once more.

Down below, in the Emiya household, Shirou groaned and sat up, propping himself up against the wall. Sakura knelt down next to him. "Ah, Sempai, should I make dinner? You might need some rest after... what happened."

He cracked his eyes open. "I suppose I'll have to ask you for your help Sakura. Sorry, but I think this guy- Ow! ...might've hit me a bit too hard..."

Saber, with an unusual expression of anger, stormed through the door. "Damn that man... I shall not fail a third time... Shirou? Are you hurt?"

Shirou shook his head. "No, just my pride... Saber, I want to get stronger. Strong enough to kick that guy's ass."

Saber nodded. "As do I. Of all of the Servants I've met, he is the most... irritating."

"Sempai! Um... should you be talking about this while I'm here?"

"... crap."

-Break-

As the night dragged on Lancer once more found himself hopping over the rooftops like a rabbit. It wasn't an activity he would call himself fond of, and the fresh wounds still healing themselves only made the experience more painful. As the moon rose in the sky and the air grew colder, he wished only for a place to stay the night, until his wounds could heal enough for another Servant to be challenged.

"Tch. Damn priest, forbidding me from coming back to the church. I bet he just likes to see people suffer..."

He crouched on the roof of one of the tallest buildings, and thought. _Can't stay with the girl. They're definitely strong enough to keep her safe, but I don't think I made a good impression. Won't be able to stay there... Guess there's only one place left. Damn that priest..._

With a painful sigh, Lancer switched directions, and headed towards a house he had never wanted to see again. A house where every sight, sound and smell would remind him of his failure. Lancer headed to the house of Bazett Fraga McRemitz, the temporary home of his old Master.

-Break-

Dust. Dust everywhere.

It covered the appliances, the upholstery, and the windows. A light coat, as the house had only been uninhabited for a few days. Still, the dust was everywhere.

Lancer sighed as he brushed the dust off of the old couch, and took a seat. He'd easily entered, bypassing the boundary fields that still recognized him as a friend. The door had been unlocked, though the house was still devoid of human presence.

"...Damnit." Just being here was causing him to remember. He didn't want to. Not this. Not his one failure. Not someone he failed. Not his undeniably dead Master.

Kin. She'd been his kin, and it was through that bond along with the catalyst that he'd been summoned. Carrying his blood, the mage had entered the Grail War with a wish. A single wish, to save her hero, Cu Chulainn had been her goal. To free him from his torment, she'd risked her life and soul.

A useless wish. What she saw as hell, was for him heaven. A place where he could fight powerful warriors to his heart's content. He only wished for victory in battle. And in the end, even that was taken from him.

"That damn priest." Kotomine Kirei. She trusted the Supervisor of the Grail War. And why shouldn't she have? He was perfectly civil, and an impartial mediator. Or at least, that was what she'd seen. Until one day, in her visit, the man had hacked off her arm, and stolen her command spells, along with Lancer's contract. His greatest failure, to protect his Master, and his kin.

"...I'll get you, Kotomine." He whispered. He could feel that damn priest through their connection. Kotomine only possessed one command spell. He'd already used one to force Lancer to scout, and another for his current objective. One more spell. One more command and nothing would be able to save Kirei Kotomine from death. "And I'll fix it. That mistake of mine, with that wish I'll make sure your efforts meant something, Bazett." And finally, in the depths of a dead woman's home, Lancer made another promise. If he ever won the Grail War, he would use the wish to bring back his true Master.

And across the city, in a church on a hill, a man laughed.


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It is owned by Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 5: Assassin<p>

The evening couldn't have come any quicker. A day after seeking refuge in the depths of his first Master's home, Lancer finally emerged, his wounds healed and prana replenished. He scowled at the setting sun, his usual smile gone.

"So, I guess it's that guy's turn..." He sighed. After the events of the previous night, he hadn't been left with many options regarding his next opponent. Berserker would no doubt be his toughest challenge, followed by Saber, who would definitely be angry at her twofold failure to defeat Lancer in their previous duels. However, he could not attack her. Not while she still protected Sakura Matou...

This left only Archer and Assassin, with Caster still barricaded in her temple. Neither was a particularly fun choice.

_That fucking Archer pisses me off. He's got no drive, no spirit. It's like fighting a machine. _Lancer recalled their first and only fight. He outclassed Archer in every way. He was faster, stronger, and more skilled, yet he couldn't land a single blow on an Archer using swords! No, Archer was not a true option at this point. Not yet, with so many of his abilities unknown.

And that left only Assassin. _Tch. That guy, I'd have preferred not to have to fight him. _If Archer was too mechanical as a fighter, then Assassin could be called the exact opposite. Every one of his slashes flowed like the wind, each strike a picture of beauty. Lancer could tell during their previous battle that Assassin was a master swordsman. And yet even Assassin was odd. What kind of Assassin fought with a sword? And in direct combat, no less? It was wrong. It went against the meaning of assigning classes if they could be broken that easily, yet both Assassin and Archer didn't seem to even care. Assassin... honestly, Lancer would've preferred to simply destroy him from afar, but unfortunately circumstances prevented such a thing from happening.

Still, if he had to choose between the two...

"Hah... guess it's off to Ryudou temple for me." Lancer set out, taking his usual route along the rooftops, his destination this time being the mountain housing Ryudou Temple, and also the base of Caster and Assassin.

Ryudou Temple was situated on top of the largest mountain in Fuyuki City, Mt Enzou, said to once have housed a dragon or god of some sort. Lancer didn't really care, but the unimportant story contained a kernel of usefulness. There was a ley line running through it Mt Enzou, providing anyone situated there with enough mana to erect a miles long boundary field capable of keeping any Servant or familiar out.

It was also fucking annoying.

Whoever Assassin's Master was, he or she had apparently allied with Caster, resulting in the only remaining path through the boundary field being guarded at all times, and even draining the prana of any magecraft cast within it. This firstly removed Lancer's runes from play; he couldn't get them to work in the field without overcharging them with prana. Also, Gae Bolg became weaker as well, though it still seemed to function, although he hadn't tested its functions so he couldn't be sure.

In short, fighting Assassin again would be an uphill battle, literally.

Finally, as the sun neared the horizon, Lancer stopped at the foot of Mt Enzou. All around him forest stretched out, save for a single staircase stretching directly to the top of the mountain.

And at the top, with a Servant's advanced eyesight, a single figure could be glimpsed, awaiting the arrival of its opponent.

Lancer walked up the steps. Other than his still enemy, no living creature dared to intrude upon the peace of the temple.

It was when he reached the halfway point of the stairs that Assassin spoke. "Shall we fight once more, Lancer?" Was all he asked.

"Yeah. I'd have preferred to just blast you from far away, but it seems I'll have to settle this personally." Lancer frowned. He assumed a battle stance, awaiting Assassin's attack.

Assassin smiled a serene expression nothing like one of Lancer's feral grins, but both exhibiting the same emotion: Bloodlust. Assassin wore a traditional Japanese hakama and kimono, both coloured in indigo and purple, the same colour as his hair and eyes. His weapon was a long traditional katana, around a meter and a half in length, too much for any ordinary man to wield, and marking him as a samurai.

Bu then again, Servants are anything but ordinary. And Assassin could be called less of a Servant and more of a wraith. He leaked no killing intent, and his sword held no power in it. To anyone's eyes he would've appeared as a normal human, but to the eyes of a Servant, he was undoubtedly a dangerous enemy.

Assassin slowly approached Lancer, taking each step of the stairs one at a time. He held no stance, his longsword loose at his side. "Last time our battle was brief. I did not have the chance to make your acquaintance. However, this shall most definitely be our final battle, so allow me to introduce myself properly." He smiled once more. "I am the Servant Assassin, Sasaki Kojirou."

"...I am the Servant Lancer, Cu Chulainn."

"Hah! A true warrior! I could not have asked for a better death. Then, Lancer, let us begin."

Nothing more needed to be said. Assassin continued his slow descent along the steps, as Lancer uncharacteristically held his ground instead of attacking. The distance between the two slowly shrank. First 50 meters, then 20.

The setting sun neared the horizon, invisible to any but the Servants through the thick trees.

10 meters. Assassin still exhibited no killing intent, even as Lancer growled unconsciously, awaiting the battle.

The bottom of the sun closed in, almost touching the ground.

8 meters. Close enough to observe his opponent, Lancer wondered why Assassin possessed almost no prana. Indeed, most Servants in his condition wouldn't even be able to move, let alone fight, yet the samurai showed no discomfort.

A sliver of air separated the heaven and earth.

5 meters. The air held a palpable silence.

Finally, the sun began to sink below the horizon, swallowed up by the encroaching night.

And he struck.

A thrust aimed at the face, instantly shot out towards Assassin, a deadly crimson bullet aimed to kill.

But a slight tap of Assassin's weapon shifted the destination, and the attack went wide, deflected.

Lancer didn't hesitate. He launched another thrust, this time to the stomach, as Assassin's sword was still raised from the previous defence.

But once more it was deflected by that long blade, which somehow managed to intercept the attack even from its outstretched position.

This time a flurry of thrusts were launched. Lancer sped up, firing off a dozen attacks in a single second, each aimed at a vital point. A single one could kill.

Assassin's weapon curved, a multitude of slashes throwing each attack to the side effortlessly.

He took a single step forward.

The storm of thrusts sped up. 20 attacks in a second launched themselves at the samurai.

Yet that long sword simply sliced through the air, and the attacks missed their mark. The bloodthirsty lance couldn't feast upon Assassin's flesh as the whirlwind prevented it from hitting.

Maddening. How could this swordsman counter Lancer's blows? Lancer could see the blade moving. It travelled along an arc as it swept away his thrusts. And common knowledge dictated that it move slower than his lance, yet in defiance of that rule Assassin knocked away Lancer's faster and more powerful blows.

Another step forward. The distance between the two shrank to 3 meters. Almost close enough for Assassin's blade to reach it's enemy.

"Grraaahhh!" With all of his energy Lancer changed his attack pattern. Gone were the quick stabs, this time replaced by wide swings intended to bulldoze through his opponent. If speed didn't work, he'd go with power!

"Ho? I did not think a lance could be wielded that way." Assassin chuckled as he inclined his head, parrying the blow meant to separate it from his shoulders and sending the attack soaring over its destination.

"How can you-?" It didn't make sense. Lancer switched back to speed once more, moving even faster in the close range. His opponent wouldn't be able to stop them this time! And like before, he attacked, pouring as much power into his strikes as possible, as fast as possible!

A lance is primarily a stabbing weapon. It is not used to swing, or even cleave. Indeed, its entire construction is built around stabbing the opponent and breaking through any guard. Power combined with speed and penetration power meant to render the opponent unable to block, and killing in a single blow. That is how a lance is meant to be used.

Both combatants knew that. A single strike passing through Assassin's defence would be enough to kill him instantly. The thrusts could not be blocked by anyone, not even the powerful Saber. Assassin had to individually strike and push away every single thrust headed his way to survive, while taking care not to directly stop him, lest his blade shatter under the force. Somehow, he had managed to do so.

And it was incomprehensible. How could Assassin do such a thing? To Lancer, known as the most Agile Servant? Assassin was slower, weaker, and at a disadvantage in the weapon department against Lancer's mid range fighting style. Each of his swings took time to move through the air, resulting in a scenario where every time Assassin swung his sword Lancer could send three different thrusts at him.

So how? How was Assassin stopping the attack? How could he almost effortlessly defend against the barrage of thrusts resembling a volley of bullets fired from a Gatling gun?

Assassin took another step forward, for the first time moving into range for a counterattack. In the background the sun had already sunk halfway below the horizon.

"You bastard!" Assassin continued to wade through the volley of thrusts by simply pushing them away, even as Lancer poured all of his strength into the blows, yet even his bullet thrusts were deflected by the hurricane that was Assassin.

Slash!

Assassin took to the offensive for the first time in the battle, swinging with blinding speed towards Lancer's head! The spearman leaned backwards, dodging the majority of the swipe but still receiving a wound across his face in return.

"Guh... now I remember why I didn't want to fight you." He muttered to himself. Logic dictated that in this situation the best option would be to retreat out of Assassin's range and continue pummelling him with thrusts. Of course, logic didn't matter much to people who could transcend it.

Lancer stood his ground, this time taking the role of the defender and blocking the whirlwind of slashes aimed towards him. Assassin struck like the wind, each blow swift and beautiful, creating a work of art from the grim violence of battle. As Lancer nimbly dodged, ducked, and occasionally parried, both fighters stood their ground. Neither would retreat a single step and admit defeat, so the dreadful melee continued.

A slash managed to get through, and Lancer felt it glance across his shoulder armour, cracking it and piercing the skin below. In retaliation he sent a one handed thrust towards Assassin's chest, but the man simply leaned to the side and the blow struck nothing but cloth.

From its outstretched position and lack of stance, the longsword flickered, dancing across Lancer's open chest, slicing apart the thin armour along with skin, and grating across ribs. The spearman didn't even notice the wound and struck back with a desperate slash upwards, slicing apart Assassin's sleeve but once more missing flesh.

Still, this was proof of the changing tide. Lancer may have been slightly weaker in direct combat, but he could fight for a longer time without tiring compared to Assassin. As the horizon swallowed the sun, so did Assassin's strength wane as he slowly but surely tired.

A desperate thrust from the crimson lance drew blood, a slight nick to the shoulder, unnoticeable by most, but enough for both Servants to notice and acknowledge the change in the battle's flow, even as Assassin's return strike caught Lancer across the face, the shallow slash scarring the man's nose. Still, both showed no discomfort at their respective injuries, and the battle continued.

And as the sun died, so did the battle.

The bullet storm of death met once more with the hurricane fencer, as they clashed on the stairway. Blood flew through the air, from both sides, as both combatants weakened.

A battle of sheer skill and violence. Different from the fight against Rider, no fancy techniques showed themselves as the two exchanged thrusts and slashes. A single mistake would spell death, and the near misses piled up. Lancer received wound after wound yet somehow managed to avoid the worst of the damage, not slowing even as Assassin's blade tore flesh again and again. Assassin still flowed like a river, not once taking a proper stance, but he too took damage, as a plethora of scratches piled up along his body, each letting go of a single drop of blood.

And the sun set, it's last vestiges of light nearing the horizon, marking the end of the battle.

The blows abruptly stopped. Both combatants inspected the other.

Lancer's body armour had long since fallen apart, leaving only his bare chest and its numerous wounds covering his upper body. The sheer amount of cuts numbered in the hundreds, with more blood than skin visible. However, he still stood straight without a single wince.

Assassin's clothes on the other hand resembled tattered rags, and numerous small cuts could be seen below, showing that even he could be struck and hurt. He panted, trying to regain his breath in the short pause between blows.

Lancer sighed. "I think it's about time we finish this."

Assassin nodded. He once again smiled serenely. "You have been a magnificent opponent, Lancer. I am glad that you fought a wraith such as me seriously. So as thanks, I shall show you my only technique before you die."

"Heh. Right back at ya."

And they both moved.

The crimson lance pointed at the ground, as Lancer held it low, ready to activate its power.

Assassin, however, simply shifted, for the first time since the start of the battle entering a true stance.

The air thickened. Mana churned, as if sensing the disturbance in the air.

The crimson spear showed a bloodthirsty glow once more, as its hunger for blood rose. The curse on it would inevitably seek the opponent's heart, bending even time and space to cause death, trapping the opponent's fate into a single path: Death.

"**The Spear of Impaling Barbed Death."**

The air around Assassin froze, as the light refracted off of his blade, which, once seemingly ordinary, now shone with an otherworldly light. If one looked at it, they could almost see two identical blades overlapping its form.

"**Hiken:"**

Their eyes met one last time. And in that moment, they accepted the future. Only one of them would walk away from this battle, and that man would be the victor.

"**Gae..."**

"**Tsubame..."**

The prana thickened once more, shadows creeping up through the forest. And the sun sank below the horizon, its last light about to be snuffed out.

"**Bolg!" "Gaeshi!"**

The spear moved first. The path curved, around the inevitable defence, twisting through time and space to reach its destination, Assassin's heart. Before he could even use his technique, Gae Bolg would pierce and kill him. So Assassin's fate had been written the second Lancer uttered the true name of his Noble Phantasm.

Before Assassin could launch his attack, Gae Bolg struck, drawing blood and undoubtedly killing yet another person. The twisting thorns dove through the wound, assuredly tearing apart the enemy from the inside. Fate imprinted the concrete and total results upon reality; the annihilation of the heart.

Silence.

And then, a voice.

"...It's my win, Lancer." Assassin murmured, his eyes still clear, free of any death. Gae Bolg clutched beneath his elbow, a single scratch across his chest the only sign of any attack having been made.

"Impossible." Impossible. Indeed that could be the only word to describe how Assassin could possible survive. Yet, definitely Gae Bolg failed.

A fate of assured death. Something bestowed by the gods themselves, a law of reality, unable to be defied. Yet, what if one was able to defy reality? Could they also defy death itself?

Yes. If the gods had imprinted the fate of death upon Assassin then he tore apart the reality of his death. Gae Bolg did not kill him. He survived. The curse had been broken by a man who could shatter reality itself.

And so he broke reality once more.

A single slash. It cut through the air, aiming for the stunned Lancer. Even in his state Gae Bolg moved, stopping the attack before it could do damage.

And another slash. While the first had been vertical, this one came from the sides. And it could not be blocked, as it came at the exact same time as the first. An impossibility. Two strikes at the exact same time, unstoppable and unblock able. Assassin's long sword tore through Lancer's stomach, scattering blood and organs across the steps.

A third slash. Of course, diagonally moving across, stopping any hopes of escape, the third strike came, culminating in three simultaneous blows. This one broke through ribs, sliced through lung, and pulverised Lancer's insides.

And so the three strikes surrounded and slaughtered Lancer, refracting throughout different dimensions to strike the same target. An insult to the gods, breaking the rules of common sense and reality. Thus, a man capable of striking three times with one swing could exist.

Silence once more.

And the spearman slowly collapsed, against a man capable of breaking absolute destiny and reality. Lancer felt death hovering at the edges of his senses, a deep cold that brought unbearable fear with it.

"Ah." He gurgled. A single lung was functional. Enough to extend his life for minutes combined with his Battle Continuation. Enough to congratulate the person who had defeated him.

"Y-you..." His eyes could still see, and his legs still held a last reserve of strength. Lancer moved, forcing Gae Bolg under himself, pushing his body to its feet. He leaned on the weapon for balance since otherwise he wouldn't have been able to stand.

Assassin nodded. "It is my win. You were a good final opponent, however. I shall endeavour to remember your name, Cu Chulainn." The samurai raised his weapon, preparing to give a final blow.

"Ah..." Lancer saw the weapon hovering in front of his eyes, like the moon shining in the night sky. A crescent of death ready to destroy life once more.

_Is this is? Will I die like this? With all of my promises unfulfilled? I can't. Not again. I don't want to die! I want to win. I want to beat him. I can't let this happen. So why can't I move?_

The blade descended.

The last light of the sun faded from the world, as night claimed the sky.

And the weapon froze, shaking, above its target.

Lancer blinked. Why hadn't Assassin followed through?

He tried to clear his blurry vision, pouring prana into his failing eyesight.

The image cleared.

A black rod?

No.

A hand?

Yes.

A hand, sticking out of Assassin's chest.

How did it get there?

Why, from inside, of course.


	7. Chapter 6

Please know that in this chapter I'll be introducing a new Servant. He is a canon Servant, but only appears in the Heaven's Feel route of the Visual Novel, so those of you who have only seen the anime, please be aware that there may be minor spoilers in this chapter.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 6: Luck<p>

Crunching.

Noisy, and sickening, the unnatural noises emanating from Assassin's chest continued, as if something had started eating the Servant from the inside like a rope bridge slowly shattering one connection at a time.

The unnaturally long sword dropped from Assassin's hand as he tried to grasp the arm extending from his chest, as if he could force it back into his body. He grabbed onto it with shaking hands, but moved no further. No, he could move no further.

The crunching noises intensified.

"Ah-!" Eyes bulging, the swordsman opened his mouth, but said nothing, as the next moment a fountain of blood burst from his throat.

Lancer blinked. As the sword clattered down the steps to the temple, as he endeavoured to keep himself conscious and upright despite his most likely fatal wounds, and as Assassin struggled against an enemy that seemed determined to consume him from the inside out.

"What the hell...?" Never in his entire life, or unlife for that matter, had he seen something like this. A man trying and unable to scream while a parasite slowly destroyed his insides.

A particularly loud crunch, and a rib fell from Assassin's suddenly shattered chest, while the black and bloody hand writhed, seeking a grip on the outside world with which to pull itself out of Assassin. It bent in impossible angles to do so but seemed unable to grab anything. It stilled for a single moment.

A sharp crack.

Assassin fell to his knees, as his legs lost all functionality. Hands fell from the offending limb as he realized the true scope of his situation. Death had already come. Indeed, he felt as the malignant creature consumed even more flesh and prana from his astral body. Already his core had begun to collapse from the strain. Soon he would be nothing more than food for the... _thing _trying to extract itself from his body, or corpse.

Assassin looked up one last time, meeting Lancer's eyes. For an instant the two dying men met, not as opponents, but as fellow Servants.

Assassin blinked. Despite the pain, and despite the continuing noises of death, he reached out one last time, and smiled the same serene smile that he had kept for all of his life. He wouldn't allow this monster to take it away. Life, sure. Dignity, of course. But his pride he would keep. He refused to die like a weakling, screaming and clinging to life like a dog. Still, before death claimed him, a single thought crossed his mind. A whim, to help an opponent he'd come to respect during their brief battle.

"Go." He whispered, and with the last of his strength pushed Lancer away, away from the parasite eating away at his soul, away from the death of a samurai.

"Assassin-"Lancer's words were cut short as the man's shove sent him flying backwards down the steps. Twisting and tumbling, his wounds sent even more pain to his mind, as he fell down the mountain steps, away from the still ongoing crunching and snapping noises.

Eventually the rolling ceased and Lancer found himself at the bottom of the steps. The noises could still be heard, but there was no screaming. As he struggled to push himself up, his hand found a shape lying next to his body.

A sword. Stained with blood, Assassin's blade lay beside the man it had only seconds before tried to destroy.

His hand reached out, gripping the blade. He didn't know how to use it. Even in life his experience with swords had been limited, and he'd never seen an Eastern weapon before. Still, he used the sword to once more push himself up in one hand, while the other did the same with Gae Bolg. Slowly, he straightened, and finally managed to lean against a nearby tree using the improvised crutches.

"Ha... what the hell?" As the snapping and crunching continued, Lancer tried to stand by himself, but standing seemed to be the limit. With those heavy wounds, his legs refused to bend or move.

"No way... I ain't gonna die like this... just because my damn legs won't move!" But no matter how much he tried to move the wounds he had sustained from Assassin's technique remained, and they wouldn't let him walk, not even to flee from Ryudou.

"Damn it. If only that stupid barrier wasn't here." Lancer cursed his bad luck. Under ordinary conditions, he would've been able to patch himself up using rune magic long enough to find a place to rest, but because of Mt Enzou's prana draining field he couldn't even do that!

"F-Fuck you." Lancer growled, coughing up blood, and forcing himself up. "I'll make it move!" A single step forward. He wobbled, almost losing his balance, but Lancer quickly took another step before he could fall. Somehow he managed to get to the stair case entrance using both Assassin's sword and his own lance as makeshift crutches. Finally out of the prana sucking boundary, he sighed in relief. However that relief was cut short as he saw a curious sight.

"Huh? The red headed kid?" Indeed, he spotted the form of Emiya Shirou, Master of Saber, wandering ever closer to the temple. Without his Servant, no less!

"Hey kid! What do you think you're doing?" Lancer yelled. His wounded lungs protested the violent action, but he yelled out a warning. "Get outta here kid! Something's happening up there and it's too dangerous without a Servant!"

But Shirou didn't even acknowledge Lancer's voice. He continued on, shambling slowly towards Ryudou Temple like a zombie.

"Are you an idiot or something? I said get back!" Lancer raised his spear in what he hoped was a threatening gesture, but once again the boy showed no reaction, merely shuffling along.

"...Don't tell me..." As the boy drew closer, Lancer focused prana into his eyes, and spotted a thing string of prana connected to the boy, leading up to Ryudou Temple. "He got himself captured? What kind of a stupid..." Another round of coughing. Lancer decided to leave the insults for when he could still talk without coughing up his own organs, and with a grunt, swung Gae Bolg clumsily, slicing through the prana string keeping Emiya Shirou prisoner in his own mind.

The second the prana string collapsed Shirou froze, then fell to his knees clutching his head.

"Wh-What happened to me?" He gasped.

Lancer grimaced. "Listen kid, your body was being controlled by magecraft. Someone attached a prana string to you that took control of your entire body. You were about to walk straight into Ryudou temple before I stopped ya." After finishing, he coughed again, this time with blood as a discharge. "Guh... kid, you should get out of here quickly. You hear that crunching noise? That's bad news just waiting to happen."

Shirou shakily stood. "You saved me?" He looked at the spearman, examining the man's condition. "Hey, you look beat up, even more than last time we met..."

Lancer chuckled. "Yeah, I'm always getting myself into stupid situations. This time I got my ass handed to me by Assassin." He blinked. "Hey... why don't ya let me stay over at your place for a while? I did just save your life after all."

"HUH? No way! Why would I let a guy who tried to kill me twice live in my own home!" Shirou denied the request instantly.

"Well, I just saved your life! You owe me!" Lancer countered!

Shirou however, had a secret weapon of his own. "Well you also killed me once, so now we're even!"

"..." Lancer fell back, trying to think of a good attack to use in that situation, but his mind fell empty.

Shirou nodded, confident in his position as a victor, but then he blinked, as if remembering something. "Hey, what crunching noise are you talking about? I don't hear anything?"

Lancer froze. For about a second. "Get down you fool!" He lurched forward, swinging Gae Bolg in an arc, and simultaneously deflecting two dark blurs aimed at Shirou's vitals. They spun off into the darkness of the night, invisible among the shadows. Shirou ducked down near the crippled spearman.

"Wh-What was that?" He practically screamed.

Lancer winced. "Quiet down kid." He whispered. "It's probably a Servant. It's trying to assassinate you. Stick close by. I should be able to stop any projectiles from blowing your head off.

As if summoned by his words, two more shapes shot out of the darkness, as fast as bullets, aimed this time at Lancer himself! However he spun his weapon once more, stopping their flight short before they could reach the target. Even in his wounded condition Lancer prided himself as being invincible to any projectiles. A few measly knives wouldn't take him down!

"Kid." He told Shirou, still crouched nearby. "Grab that sword next to you. Try and reinforce it if you can. I don't know how this is possible, but only an Assassin type Servant could throw knives while hidden like that. Whatever it is, it'll aim to kill you first, so be ready at all times."

Obeying the instructions instantly, Shirou grasped Sasaki Kojiro's long sword and closed his eyes, focusing intently on understanding its properties.

Meanwhile, Lancer was forced to deflect an entire barrage of knives, each from different directions, and most of them aimed at Shirou. His wounds groaned at the strain, but he ignored them. He'd have time to heal later, if he ever got out of this.

"Show yourself, coward!" He called out. Not that he expected it to work. However, a form did indeed materialize in front of him. A single white mask, floating by itself in the darkness like the reaper, come to claim the souls of the dead.

"What the hell are you?" Lancer muttered, whilst preparing for another attack.

The mask didn't move, but a voice was heard. "I NeED moRE. YoU aRE EnOUgH fOr NOw." Groaning, that voice that seemed inhuman, monstrous even in its tone, spoke. The smiling skull mask shone like the moon, but nobody could be seen in the darkness.

"Hmph." Lancer frowned. "Here I was thinking you were a spider, but-" He sniffed. "You're only a dirty sandworm. Give it up; projectile attacks are useless against me even in this condition. You'll need a Noble Phantasm if you want to hurt me."

"I sEE, PRoteCtIon AgaiNst ArrOws... That Is whAt YoU pOssEss... MayBE yOU dO, bUt Not ThE BoY!" A high pitched cackle, like an insect chirping, emanated from the grinning skull. Instantly it fired off a barrage of knives, not at the spearman, but at Shirou, who was still concentrating on the blade in his hands!

"Boy-" Lancer moved, but he wouldn't make it. Not in his condition. As the darks neared, Shirou finally opened his eyes.

"Hah!" A single sweep of the sword and the knives flew off into the darkness. The bullets had been countered once more, this time by an ordinary human. Shirou clutched the blade tightly, sweeping it across, and once more stopping another barrage with unnatural precision.

"WhAt?" True Assassin hesitated. No human should've been able to stop his Darks, yet that boy did so with unnatural skill! And that sword... it seemed to be an ordinary weapon, devoid of magical power or history, so how could he use it so skilfully?

Lancer blinked. For a moment, it had been as if Kojiro had swung the blade, all of his grace in a single strike. But he blinked once more, and the only thing he saw was a panting teen clutching a weapon too big for him.

"YoUUUUUUUUU!" The mask shook in rage, and let out yet another barrage flying towards Shirou, each knife aiming for a different vital point. But Shirou twisted, lashing out with the sword. He slashed three knives out of the air, and the rest simply shot by him, only inflicting light scratches.

"Gah!" The boy collapsed, panting and heaving. Whatever art he used to survive the Darks had left him drained of energy. One more strike would finish him off.

"DiE!" Another group of knives flew towards the struggling magus, even faster than before. Whatever luck had caught the killer off guard the first time wouldn't work again! Lancer was still too far away to make it with his wounds, leaving him unable to help.

However, Shirou had more than one ally that night.

"Tch. Idiot." Yet another figure interposed itself between the boy and True Assassin. With two simultaneous slashes it deflected the barrage effortlessly.

Clad in his black and red battle uniform, Archer stood clutching two blades, one black and the other a pearly white. "This isn't what was supposed to happen." He muttered to himself. Noticing Lancer and Shirou, he called out. "Get the hell out of here. I'll take this guy on!"

Shirou stared at him.

Archer snarled. "What the hell are you waiting for? Get away!" As he spoke True Assassin sent even more knives flying, but Archer sliced them out of the air. "And use that sword of yours to take that blue haired idiot down while you're at it!"

"Shut it you... you bondage man!" Lancer shot back, while backpedalling away from the two Servants as fast as his body would allow. Archer merely grinned. "Ah whatever! I'll think of a better insult once my innards are in their rightful places!"

Shirou finally seemed to realize his position, and rose, dashing towards the wounded Lancer. As he ran two more darks flew towards him, but two other arrows knocked the knives away, hastily shot by Archer's materialized bow. "Your opponent is me." He spoke to the man in the dark.

"HmmM... YoU shAll dO." The mask disappeared, although knives continued to fly from all directions, this time aimed at Archer instead of Shirou or Lancer. "I shALL hAvE yOUr IntellIgenCE!"

"Heh, just try it, Hassan!" Archer readied Kanshou and Byakuya once more. As True Assassin shot forward, the two warriors clashed once more.

"Kid, as much as I hate that bastard, he's right. Let's get out of her while we still can." Lancer spoke while Shirou clutched him around the waist and helped the Servant hobble away from the battle.

"Why was Archer even here though?" Shirou wondered out loud. The sounds of clashing weapons behind them grew softer as they distanced themselves from the battle.

"How the hell should I know?" Lancer replied. "Did you do something to piss him off?"

Shirou shrugged. "No, although I think he hates me for some reason. But he and Tohsaka are supposed to be allied with us, so maybe he came to save me."

"..." Lancer chuckled. "And I was planning on killing him after Assassin too. Guess I'll leave him until the end." Lancer then grinned. "You must be pretty lucky kid. You get two different people saving your life in one night. And speaking of saving your life, you owe me again."

"What?" Shirou protested. "You only saved me once, with that mind control string!"

"What about when I deflected those knives?"

"I-I could've blocked them myself!"

"Yeah, with your face."

"...You'll sleep in the shed."

"Stingy, aren't you?"

"Shut up."


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 7: Rest and Recuperation Part One<p>

"Ow! Watch where you point that thing kid! I like my organs where they are!" Complained Lancer as Shirou half carried him along the road. They had been walking for at least an hour.

"What organs? You're missing half your chest." Shirou grunted as he adjusted the sword strapped to his belt with his left hand, his right firmly holding Lancer upright. The blade initially appeared to be a Japanese katana, but upon further examination was revealed as much too long for that. Indeed, it seemed much too long for any human to wield, and even strapped to Shirou's belt it occasionally made contact with ground.

"It's the principle of the thing kid. If you want to keep that stupidly long sword then make sure you don't accidentally finish me off with it!" Lancer replied cheerfully. Well, as cheerfully as one could when missing enough body mass to make even a coroner wince. Despite his supposedly life threatening injuries, however, Lancer remained upbeat, which annoyed the redhead carrying him to no end.

"I'm starting to think I should've done just that instead of taking you along." Shirou growled as he continued to lug the wounded man along.

"Damn kid, why so angry? It's like you hate me or something." Lancer chuckled. Even Shirou's barbed comments couldn't ruin his mood.

"I do hate you Lancer." The boy retorted.

Lancer paused, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "Huh. Hey kid, you just reminded me of Archer." He finally said.

Shirou tripped, almost falling over. "What? Why him?" He spat out after righting himself.

"Dunno. You just gave off the same vibe for a second there." Lancer tried to shrug and failed, due to half of the muscles required for such an action being torn apart.

"Gah! You're insane. I'm nothing like that guy!" Shirou yelled.

Lancer nodded. Good, at least those muscles worked. "True. He's a lot smarter than you for one."

"Shut it, I just don't know much about magic!" The boy angrily replied.

"And yet you signed up for the spot of Master in one of the deadliest wars in history. Real smart move kid." Lancer snorted, the action causing half an ounce of blood to go shooting back into his body.

Shirou sighed. "I didn't sign up for anything. It just... happened." All his earlier hostility evaporated. In reality Shirou was a nice person, and could rarely work up a temper for more than 15 minutes. Though Lancer rubbed him the wrong way, he couldn't stay mad forever.

They walked, or hobbled, silently for the next few minutes. Just as Shirou was beginning to recognize his neighbourhood, meaning the destination couldn't be far, Lancer spoke again.

"I could teach you." He said.

"Huh?" Shirou blinked. "Teach me what?"

"Magic, idiot!" Lancer grumbled. "If you want to survive any longer in this war you'll need to know at least some magic other than reinforcement."

"Oh!" Shirou realized. His face lit up with hope for a second, but then it deflated again when he realized something else. "You're not a Caster though. You're Lancer."

Lancer snorted again. "So? When I was alive I was known as one of the masters of the 18 original runes. I know more about certain types of magecraft than master magi living today!" They turned, arriving on Shirou's street.

"...What's the catch?" Shirou asked, already wary of any offers of help.

Lancer grinned. "You have to give me free meals, and a place to sleep."

Shirou smiled as well upon hearing that. "It would be my pleasure."

Nothing more was said. In silence they breached the boundary field of the Emiya house, and Shirou unlocked the door.

"You'll have to sleep the first night in the shed." Shirou said. "Sakura and Saber are already sleeping and I don't want to wake them up."

Lancer nodded. "What about you, kid? You're pretty beat up from those knives earlier."

"I'll patch myself up. How about your wounds? They're a lot worse than mine." The boy asked.

Lancer chuckled. "This? A good day or two of rest and I'll be fine. I can patch myself up too." Regardless of their severity, as long as his spiritual core was intact Lancer could survive almost any wounds, and Servant healing meant they'd only be a problem for a short time before they healed.

They both nodded. "You already know where the shed is." Shirou said. "So I don't need to tell you. Good night." And the boy left, no doubt to treat his wounds.

Lancer instead of entering the house, went around to the back, where he spotted the old shed he'd originally cornered Shirou in before trying to kill him. The shed where Saber had been summoned.

"Well, it's not really a five star hotel, but it'll do." Lancer entered, careful to close the door quietly lest he wake Saber. He wasn't really looking forward to having to fight her again so soon, especially since he'd promised that their third battle would be the final one.

"Now then, it's time to redecorate." Lancer took out a rune, this one specialized in sealing prana signatures. He invoked it under his breath, and inscribed it on the four corners of the shed. The runes connected, forming a boundary field over the shed. Undetectable by ordinary magi, while not providing any defence against attacks, it would mask his presence from anyone trying to sense him. And hopefully, it would mean he could relax and sleep uninterrupted for at least a single night.

"Alright, that's good enough." Lancer nodded in satisfaction. And after that, he finally took the time to look over his own wounds. What he found was sickening.

The surface had already healed somewhat, giving the impression that the wound was not very serious. But underneath, most of Lancer's internal organs had been pulverized; now resembling nothing so much as globs of dying flesh. Most people would've died instantly, Servant or not, but Lancer was an exception.

"Damn, that samurai really did a number on me. This'll take at least a day to heal fully!" Still, it was better than he had expected. The two cuts had been clean, not jagged, and there was no foreign prana contaminating the wound and preventing regeneration. Lancer simply inscribed a few runes for quick healing near the injuries, and left them otherwise. They'd heal by themselves in due time.

As he scrounged up a dirty blanket among the various objects scattered around the shed, his hands closed around a steel pipe. It appeared to be an ordinary pipe, but the second his hand touched it he realized that it was no such thing.

"A projection?" While not a proper magus, even Lancer recognized one of the three basic magics of Alteration, Reinforcement, and Projection. The pipe was one such projection, a fake brought temporarily into reality using prana. But there was something wrong here. Projections typically quickly degraded, unable to last more than a few hours without a source of prana. Yet this projection carried Shirou's distinctive prana signature. Shirou couldn't have done this now, yet is remained whole despite most likely having been projected some time ago.

"So this is the kid's talent?" Lancer nodded. It made sense. When he first attacked Shirou it had been a quick stab from the back; an instant killing blow. The second time, however, the boy had fought him off using only a rolled up poster! "So his strengths are in basic projection and reinforcement." It made sense, and explained the kid's weakness against other types of magic very well. A physical type magus, Shirou most likely knew very little about magecraft past the basics.

"Heh. It'll be fun training this kid." And with that, Lancer leaned against a wall, and quietly went to sleep. Normally sleep was unnecessary for Servants, but when trying to regenerate from an attack or restore prana, sleep helped immensely.

And so, for the first time since he had been summoned, Lancer had a good night's sleep.

-Break-

"How goes the dog's struggle, Kotomine?" The golden man spoke. Leaning back he sipped on a glass of undoubtedly expensive wine.

"It has been surprising." Kotomine answered honestly. He leaned against the opposite wall from the gold man, still clad in his priestly attire despite the heat and the lateness. "He still lives, for one."

"Feh. Even a dog can kill a snake. The mutt knows how to bite, at least. Of course I expected at least that much competence from any soldier that dared to serve me." He took another sip of wine. It was his fourth glass that evening, yet he didn't seem the least bit tipsy.

"He has triggered another player in this game." The priest said.

The golden man raised an eyebrow. "Ho? Do tell. Is it that malevolent prana I sensed from Ryudou Temple tonight?"

Kotomine nodded. "Yes. The Makiri have begun to move. Zouken has already summoned a Servant using a hole in the system of the Grail War. Ironically, it was that which saved our dog's life."

"Hmph. To fall as low as to lose to a mere nameless wraith. I should have expected nothing less from a mangy guard dog." The man sneered. "But that sandworm, is it Zouken's Servant? That worm, trying to cling to life ungracefully after all these years. He should have accepted his death ages ago."

Kotomine frowned. When he had sent Lancer on a suicide mission he hadn't expected it to rile Makiri Zouken enough for the old worm to actually participate in the war. Did the old man possess some sort of secret weapon? No matter how powerful, Assassin could not win this war alone, after all. "Interesting, at least. But Zouken... that man irritates me as well, Gilgamesh."

"Should I kill him? It would be as easy as stepping on an insect."

"No." Kotomine shook his head. "We still have a player on the field after all. Even if he seeks to defy us, my leash still holds him down. Let us see how far he can go."

"How cruel." Gilgamesh stated. It was not an opinion, but fact. After all, the King only spoke truth. "I like it." He laughed. "Let us see how far the hound of Chulainn will go before he inevitably falls to the weight of his own promises!" His laughter echoed, past the basement of the church, and into the night sky.

Miles away, in his fitful sleep, Lancer growled in anger.

-Break-

"And I just don't understand it either!" Lancer's eyes shot open. What was that? A voice? A woman's by the sound.

"Understand what, Fuji-nee?" Shirou's voice this time. Lancer blinked, and yawned, slowly stretching awake. Still slightly sore, but much better than before.

"Where you got the courage to invite Sakura-chan to live with you! I mean, you're not enough of a man to do something like that!" The strange female's voice again. Lancer stood up and stretched. A sharp pain in his abdomen reminded him that his wounds still existed, however, despite their partial healing.

"It's not what it looks like!" Shirou could be heard, sputtering some kind of denial. Lancer continued the examination. While his wounds would most likely be fully healed within a day, he wouldn't be able to fight until then without risking them reopening.

"Ah, Sempai, do you not like me?" Oh. Now it was Sakura. She sounded sad about something. What did the kid do?

"Oh, now that's just cruel Shirou! First you bring a girl over to your house and then you tell her she isn't wanted? How evil..." And he heard the unknown woman speaking. This 'Fuji-nee' seemed to be a joker. Lancer, now fully awake, slowly cracked open the shed door, taking a peek outside. The sun shone inside, signifying early morning.

"N-No, that's not it either!" Shirou denied the accusations once more. Whatever they were talking about, he was definitely trapped on the receiving end.

"Ah, so you l-like me, Sempai?" And Sakura spoke once more. Lancer really wished he could understand the conversation, but his mind was still asleep, and all the words went straight through his mind.

"Ooh! A confession!" Fuji-nee cheered. Clattering could be heard. Lancer estimated the voices to be coming from the living room. He tried to remember if he'd passed through it when he'd been attacking the boy. It had been dark, but the floor plan of the house still hung in his muddled mind.

"W-Wait, that's not it either!" He heard Shirou protest once more. "I just thought that since there were all these murders going on it would be better for her to stay with me until they stopped!"

"Ooh! So you want to protect her! How cute!" Fuji-nee squealed. Lancer opened a side door, finally entering the house. Now that he had the time to examine it, it seemed to be very well maintained.

"Gah! Whatever! Listen Fuji-nee, sorry to cut our conversation short, but school should be starting soon. I don't think it would be fitting for a teacher to be late." Shirou finally gave up, changing the subject to something that would hopefully stop his childish teacher's teasing.

"Oh that's right! I just remembered!" She exclaimed. "School's been cancelled since most of the teachers and staff have called in sick! Apparently there's a virus or flu going around Fuyuki in addition to all those creepy murders."

"...So why are you even here." Deadpan. Shirou was not amused.

"I just came to warn my favourite students before they had to trek all the way to the school and back! Oh why does no one honour my noble sacrifices?"

"You just wanted food, didn't you." And Shirou saw right through her dastardly plans.

"What? N-no... besides, Saber is eating more than me!" Fuji-nee retorted.

"I must keep my energy up at all times." Lancer heard the blond knight speak for the first time. He realized that when not screaming, her voice was actually very beautiful. A pity he'd never get to hear it under normal circumstances. "And I require the energy. After all, I can eat as much as I want without gaining weight, meaning I should try and save up as much as possible."

"Gah! You don't have to rub it in! You little kids and your super powerful metabolisms! Why, back in my day..."

"Fuji-nee, you're starting to sound like an old woman." Instantly there was silence. Even from rooms away Lancer could feel the mistake Shirou had just made.

"OoooHHhhH! ShirouuuU!" The woman growled. Like a tiger. "You'll pay for that!" Crashing plates could be heard, along with cries of pain.

"Ah, Fujimura sensei, you'll kill him!" Sakura cried.

"Ah, please refrain from harming Shirou." Saber chimed in as she reached for more food.

"Ooh! A strong woman! You don't see many of those these days!" Lancer said, clapping politely.

"See, he agrees with me!" Fujimura Taiga crowed, while standing on top of the dining room table with Shirou in a headlock, caught under one of her arms while the other was raised majestically.

"Of course, magnificent headlock by the way." Lancer replied.

"It's my specialty! Why, when I first did this-." She froze suddenly.

"..."

"..."

Silence. Every person in the room suddenly stared at the new arrival blankly, even Shirou, still in a headlock. Saber's mouth hung open, and Sakura had dropped her spoon.

"What? Was it something I said?"


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: Rest and Recuperation Part Two<p>

"Now let me get this straight. You're from Ireland?" Taiga asked. Sitting down at the table, with Lancer in front of her and flanked by Shirou and Sakura, the interrogation finally trickled down to its conclusion.

"Yep." Lancer nodded.

"And you came to Japan to visit a relative in Japan, but she was dead?" Her eyes didn't even soften at the accusation, where most would've sympathised more.

"Uh-huh." Once more he agreed without missing a beat. Even though Bazette was already dead, he hadn't yet given up on bringing her back to life, so he couldn't mourn.

"So you climbed up the steps to Ryudou Temple for some reason you refuse to tell me about, but someone pushed you down and you ended up getting hurt?" Taiga pressed on.

"That's right." An affirmative gesture. The story was technically true after all.

"So you also somehow ran into Shirou, who was by coincidence running around that area in the middle of the night for some reason, and convinced him to let you sleep here?"

"Yes." Lance smiled while answering all these questions. While a Servant such as him was incapable of lying, omission of the truth could still have the same effect. The story he had given Fujimura Taiga, who he now realized was Shirou's high school teacher, had been created using nothing but truth.

Taiga sighed. Still, she had one more question. "...Have you ever heard of someone named Kiritsugu Emiya?" She asked Lancer.

"Nope." Lancer honestly had never heard of the man. The last name sounded familiar, but other than that, nothing sprang to mind.

Taiga pondered. As she considered her answer, sweat ran down Shirou's back. While he hadn't even wanted to introduce Lancer to Taiga, he had been forced to back up the man's story. And if Taiga's reaction was anything like the one she had with Saber, Lancer wouldn't be staying very long.

"Very well! You pass!" She proclaimed.

"Huh?" Shirou spat out his drink. Why he'd been drinking water while waiting even he didn't know, seeing as he didn't remember having any before. "Why did you let him off right away when you stared at Saber all day after hearing her story?" He asked after clearing his throat.

"Because the "old friend of my father's" story is stupid and unoriginal. Plus, anyone who knows how to appreciate a proper headlock must be a good person!"Taiga nodded, satisfied in her appraisal of Lancer.

"Your criteria for judging people are too weird..." Shirou moaned. Why did she instantly accept someone who tried to kill him but deny the girl who had saved his life?

Lancer grinned. "Looks like your teacher is pretty smart kid! And did I tell her how I saved your life too?"

Taiga's eyes lit up. At the same time, Saber choked on her food, and Sakura tripped over a microscopic hole in the floor. "Saved you life?" Taiga breathed. "How heroic! Thank you for helping out my foolish student! I bet he got himself into trouble again."

"Yeah." Lancer chuckled. "See, there was this psycho with a bunch of knives that showed up a bit after the kid found me. Now, even as sore and confused as I was, I knew this guy was bad news."

"Ooh!" Fujimura hung onto every word, while Saber and Sakura grew even paler at the thought of Shirou in danger. Shirou himself just cradled his head in his hands, having already given up.

"So, he starts throwing knives at us! Now, most of them were headed for the kid here, so I just knocked them out of the air!" He continued explaining, making sure not to mention the Grail War, but using increasingly larger hand movements to illustrate the events.

"So then I toss the kid this sword I found next to me, and he deflects the next volley all by himself! And now, I would've taken down the psycho but the entire time I could barely move, so he got away." Lancer finished the tale. Saber had unknowingly snapped her chopsticks in half, while Sakura had dropped the pink spatula she had been holding, and crushed it underneath her foot. "But mark my words, next time I see him I'm gonna kick his ass!"

Taiga, by comparison, looked ready to faint. "Does that mean you know how to fight?" She breathed the question.

"Yeah, I've trained myself to use almost any weapon, although I'm not so good with Eastern ones." Lancer answered her question without batting an eye at its oddity.

The teacher stood up abruptly at that. "I challenge you!" She instantly declared, the fire in her eyes burning brighter than ever. "Let us do battle, foreigner!"

"Sure." Lancer replied before Shirou could stop him. The old grin had returned to his face upon hearing the challenge. "Just keep in mind though, I won't be holding back."

"Excellent! Let's do it right now!" Taiga was burning up.

"Just say when." Lancer shot back. His hands began to twitch, as his body prepared to summon Gae Bolg subconsciously.

Taiga procured a cloth wrapped bundle from behind her back. It was roughly as long as an ordinary training sword, but at the same time it released an aura of a beast. "Let's do this in the dojo so we don't wreck the living room." She suggested.

"Lead the way."

"Follow me!"

Thus the only two so called 'adults' in the room swiftly exited it to go fight with sticks in the house's dojo, leaving behind two stunned teenagers and a frozen Heroic Spirit.

"Ah, Sempai..." Sakura was the first to snap out of her funk. She pointed towards the open door numbly. "Shouldn't someone stop them before this goes too far?"

Shirou blinked. "Oh." He muttered. "Oh!" Finally the realization began to set in. "OH! Saber, Sakura, we have to stop them before someone gets hurt!" After saying that, he jumped out of his seat and dashed out the door, hopefully in time to stop a tragedy from occurring. "DON'T DO IT LANCER!" He cried as he ran desperately to the dojo.

Saber blinked. Sakura blinked as well. Then she started to chuckle. "Hehe, Lancer seems to have caught Fujimura-sensei's attention." A smile graced the purple headed girl's features. "Don't you think they're getting along nicely?"

Saber frowned. "This is not acceptable at all. He is an enemy Servant! I should have killed him the moment I saw that smug face of his!" She hissed. Sakura should've been intimidated, but the single tuft of hair that bobbed in front of Saber's face ruined the image, causing her to resemble nothing more than a teen having a tantrum.

Sakura tilted her head. "But Saber, you didn't kill me, and I'm an enemy Master, right?"

Saber seemed to deflate a little at that. "We've discussed this already Sakura. Didn't you tell us that Shinji took your place as Master of Rider? As such, you are no opponent of mine." She reaffirmed her glare. "But that man! He has attacked Shirou multiple times! From what Shirou has told me, he even succeeded in severely injuring Shirou once! Why should I trust him again?"

Sakura bit her lip. While she was initially inclined to agree with Saber, a stray memory drifted through her mind. "But he didn't kill me. He could've easily killed me and Rider would've disappeared instantly, but he didn't. He left me alive just so he could fight her fair and square." She remembered. Being puzzled at that man's actions. Learning of his sense of honour.

Saber looked taken aback. "Sakura, that was probably just a whim-"

"And he even promised to protect me!" Sakura continued. She didn't really know what to think, but she remembered the man's promise. A promise to protect her. "He brought me to Sempai when I asked. He even left me this in case something ever happened to me!" She held out a pebble to Saber. At first it simply resembled an ordinary stone, but close examination revealed a rune etched along the sides of it. Sakura recognized them as tracking runes that would transmit their location to Lancer upon being fed with prana. "He fought you and Sempai just to give this to me..." She looked up at Saber. "I don't know anything about Lancer. I don't even particularly like him. But..." She finally looked up, her eyes clear. "I believe that he'll keep his promises. So if you don't believe in him, can't you believe in me, Saber?"

Saber stood in silence. The weight of the words from the girl in front of her had been staggering. For a moment, Sakura hadn't seemed like a scared little girl, but a confident magus, ready to face any challenge. But eventually she just sighed. "It seems I have been bested yet again." She murmured. She smiled, and with a simple "Let's go." grabbed on to Sakura's hands. "Come, we should make sure my troublesome Master doesn't get himself killed again."

And saying so, she dragged Sakura off with a "Meep!" to see the upcoming battle.

-Break-

"Alright, are you ready?" Taiga stood in the center of Shirou's dojo, dressed in a full combat gi, carrying her favourite Torashinai. Across from her stood Lancer. He still wore his customary blue jumpsuit, but to fit with the theme he'd donned a gi as well, although it was slightly too short for him. He had grabbed a shinai off the wall, and was testing it out.

"Hm... just about. These Eastern weapons are a bit too light for my tastes, but I think I could get used to them." He tossed the sword from one hand to the other. While not Gae Bolg, he'd used plenty of swords in life before. This wouldn't be too tough.

"Ho? You prefer a lance then?" Taiga grinned. "Well I'll just have to show you the superiority of Japanese weaponry!" She readied her stance.

"Show me your moves then!" Lancer settled into a stance of his own, holding the training weapon like a traditional European broadsword, though the shape was undeniably different.

"Hah!" The teacher moved first, leaping forward instantly for a decisive strike! She brought the training sword down with full force, but as soon as she approached Lancer he shifted out of the way, dodging the charge handily.

With a single hand he tapped her on the head with his own sword. "Point for me. That is how you Japanese do it, right?"

"We do this until one of us gives up!" She landed in a crouch, then sprung out of it to slash upwards instantly and Lancer, but he hopped backwards, waiting until the blow passed before countering with a thrust that lightly hit her chest.

"Another hit for me." Lancer smirked. True, the woman was skilled. From the way she moved he could tell she had practiced, but against his speed her strikes were like those of a child, slow and weak. She charged forward, this time sweeping the sword from left to right.

But Lancer blocked the blow with the body of his own, and then ducked underneath the continuing strike, moving underneath her weapon! Another thrust made contact with Taiga's hand.

They separated. The entire exchange had only taken 5 seconds. "You're pretty good." She called out.

"You too." Lancer agreed. From the beginning the fight had been unfair, but Lancer was sure that against any human she would undoubtedly win.

Taiga grinned. "The fight starts now! I'll make you give up for sure!"

"Just try it!" He readied the training sword again, about to strike, when-

"WAIT!" Shirou burst through the door, tripped, and tumbled forwards until he hit the floor face first.

"..." The two fighters stared blankly at Shirou, who shot upwards instantly, breathing hard.

"Please. Hah. Don't. Hah. Fight. Hah." He looked at Lancer. "This is my house. Hah. And I forbid you two to fight!" He breathed deeply.

Taiga pouted. "Aw Shirou, you're no fun! Y'know if I don't get any practice I'll grow fat! Is that what you want?"

"No, but Lancer-"

"I'm fine kid." The spearman cut him off. "My wounds are mostly healed anyway, and I promise not to accidentally break your teacher."

"Oh? Hohoho! Break me? I'll break you!" Taiga leapt over Shirou's prone body for another strike, but Lancer simply skipped backwards, avoiding it with ease.

"You have spirit woman! I think I like you!" he exclaimed, as the woman in front of him continued to attack.

She smiled, but didn't slow down. "Flattery will get you nowhere!" And so she continued to press him, attacking with even more fury than before. Lancer chuckled. Sure, the battle wasn't particularly hard, but he could easily say that it was fun.

As the battle dragged on, Taiga missed again and again, but unlike the fight against Saber she didn't give up. At some point Sakura and Saber had arrived to watch the spar, and Shirou eventually gave up trying to stop the two. He moved to watch as well, sitting next to Sakura. At first he seemed worried, but when Sakura unconsciously grabbed onto his hand, he started focusing less on the battle and more on her hand grasping his.

Eventually, Taiga was tired out fully, from the strain of constantly swinging her sword. Lancer by comparison didn't even seem winded, but that was to be expected from a Servant after all. She hadn't been able to touch him even once.

"Hah. You're... pretty good." She breathed. Her sword dipped down to the floor, as she panted.

Lancer laughed. "You're skilled as well, but I'm just better." He lowered his weapon as well. "I suppose that we foreigners are just better at fighting than you Japanese, eh?"

"Grr..." She growled in anger. First she had lost to Saber, a girl half her size, and now she was losing to a smug Irish guy? Not a chance! "HA!"

Instantly from her position she lunged, sword flying for one last thrust! It flew straight for Lancer's face from a close range. Even he wouldn't be able to block this one!

But a Servant wouldn't go down to a surprise attack like that. Lancer simply leaned back, farther and farther, to avoid being hit. As the sword travelled forward, he went backwards, until suddenly, without warning, he stiffened.

The training sword tapped against his nose, and he fell backwards onto his butt.

"Ah." He clutched his stomach with his free hand. A look of pain blossomed across his face for an instant before being replaced by a lazy smile. "Guess you beat me after all."

Taiga frowned. "You were about to dodge that. What's wrong?" She knelt down next to him. "Did your wounds from yesterday reopen?"

"Yeah. But don't worry, I'm fine. I should just take it easy for a while. I probably won't be able to do any fighting for at least a day." As he said that, he shot a pointed look at Saber, who nodded. They both understood perfectly that Lancer was leaving himself defenceless in this situation, and that he trusted her not to abuse the chance she'd been given.

Taiga sighed. "What is it with super powerful foreigners these days... gah, whatever! You!" She pointed at Lancer. "We'll have a rematch once you heal! And no holding back!"

He nodded. "I'll look forward to it."

"For now it's a tie, but next time I'll slaughter you!" She declared.

Then a spark of realization crossed her face. "Gah! I totally forgot! I promised Neko-chan I'd help her out with the bar today! I'm already late!" In frenzy she dashed out of the house, only pausing to put on her shoes.

Shirou sighed. "And she forgot to take off her gi, too..." He then looked towards Lancer. "Are you sure your wounds will heal?"

The man nodded, all traces of happiness gone from his face. "Yeah, it's fine. They're pretty bad, but a day of rest should be enough to get me back to top condition. That teacher of yours is a pretty good swordsman, if I'd been an ordinary human I would've been slaughtered."

Shirou nodded although he was still slightly embarrassed at Taiga's childish actions. "She may act childish, but please don't think little of her."

"It's fine." Lancer grinned. "I like people like her." However, he abruptly sighed, and began to take off his gi. "Kid, ladies, we'll need to talk."

Saber stood up. "Yes." She agreed, keeping her face tactfully neutral.

"We have much to discuss, after all."


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 9: Strategy Session<p>

"Alright kids, since it's your house and all, what do you want to know?" Lancer reclined on some of the tatami mats in the living room. Sakura, Shirou, and Saber were all sitting or standing in different positions surrounding him. In Saber's case, it was simply because she found herself unable to relax because of the man's presence in the Emiya household.

Shirou decided to break the silence. He asked what had been on his mind since two days previously. "Well, first... why did you bring Sakura to us? She was Rider's Master, not yours, and you have nothing binding her to you at all, so why did you fight Saber just to help her?"

Lancer found the remote to the TV under one of the cushions. While examining it he answered lazily. "Simple. Before getting my hands on the girl over there, I had to fight Rider. Now Rider and I agreed to a condition before fighting. Whoever won the match would choose what to do with the loser. I lost." He absentmindedly fiddled with the buttons until the TV turned on.

Saber narrowed her eyes. "You did? Then why are you not dead?" She asked. Normally one could expect the loser of a battle to be the one to die, but apparently the match against Rider had been different.

Lancer began surfing channels. "I guess you could say I lost the battle but won the war." He finally answered. "Rider cornered me, but at that point she was dying herself, so she made me promise to protect the girl over here in her place. Since she won, I had to obey the terms of the agreement." He seemed to find one he liked, about fishing, and left it there.

Sakura finally spoke up. "It's true... I was there. Rider, she fought so hard... but in the end..." She bowed her head. Thinking about Rider's sacrifice was still very jarring to her.

Lancer snorted. "A spear through the heart will kill anyone." He said. "For her it just took a while." There was silence once more, save for the quiet sounds from the TV.

Eventually Saber spoke once more. "So you made a geas, Lancer? Such as in your legend?" While not unusually knowledgeable about legends and history, she knew about the legend of Cu Chulainn. One of the most important points of the legend was that he had made a great many promises, and upon their breaking he lost much of his power. For Lancer to so easily make another promise... had he not learned anything from his death?

Lancer however seemed unperturbed. "Yep." He nodded. "So right now that girl's safety is my number one priority next to defeating all the Servants." He pointed a single finger at Sakura.

Saber didn't let up. "So you also promised to kill all of the Servants in the Grail War. Then we shall have to fight eventually. Or will you decide to simply kill Shirou to get me out of the way? That is a valid tactic after all." She finished. The words had shocked both of the humans in the room, although Lancer didn't bat an eye at the accusations Saber had thrown his way.

Shirou gulped. "S-Saber! I really don't appreciate you talking about killing me so casually while I'm in the same room!" He looked nervously towards Lancer, who just smiled.

Lancer countered the accusation with a promise of his own. "True, but I promised you we'd have a rematch, didn't I? And you know already that I always keep my promises. You and I will fight, and one of us will lose. That's a guarantee." Saber nodded reluctantly. While she didn't want to believe him, her instincts told her that Lancer wouldn't lie. "Just try not to die until then. I'd hate to have to break that particular promise." He smirked.

Saber growled at that. "Why not right now then? I am certainly ready." She hissed.

Shirou panicked again. "W-Wait up Saber! I really don't think we should be fighting an ally right now!" He tried to defuse the situation between the two before it could escalate again. Unfortunately for him, Saber wouldn't back down so easily.

She glared at him. "It shall happen eventually, Shirou. Don't be foolish. You know that this is inevitable. Servants were summoned to kill each other. After Lancer and I fight, only one of us can survive. You knew that the second you accepted your role as my Master." She sighed. "You know as well as I do that Lancer will end up being our enemy." She turned her gaze to Lancer.

His grin didn't fade. "Lady." He spoke. "It should be natural for you to drink until dawn with someone you get along with, even if he may be your enemy. That is the code I subscribe to."

"R-Ridiculous!" Saber stuttered. Such a foolish ideal? Drinking with your enemy? Impossible!

Yet... such a thing had happened to her before, had it not? Didn't she once meet with two of her enemies, and did they not speak and drink wine until the dawn had come? That man once said something similar, did he not?

Lancer just shrugged. "Why? There's no rule stating that we Servants cannot work together. There is nothing forcing us to hate each other. I don't despise you no matter what you may think." He smiled again, but this time it seemed softer than his usually blood lusted grins.

"I...He's right Saber."

"Shirou?" Saber was taken aback. How could Shirou agree to this?

The boy's eyes hardened. "We will eventually be forced to kill each other, but for now he's our ally!" He said. "And we don't fight our allies!"

Sakura spoke up as well. "I agree with Sempai. Lancer hasn't done anything bad! You... haven't forgotten our earlier conversation, have you?"

Saber just sighed. "Fine, I'll let him live until the end of the war." She gave up. Against the combined might of two teenagers the hardy Servant was completely defeated.

"Now cheer up lass!" Lancer gave Saber a large pat on the back. "It could be fun! Why, imagine it! Lancer and Saber! The ultimate team! And at the end of the Grail War we shall have our final showdown to decide who is truly stronger! It'll be awesome." He continued to pat Saber on the back, while she just held her head in her hands.

"What did I do to deserve this?" She moaned.

"Absolutely nothing!" Lancer patted her one more time then switched his attention back to changing the channels. "By the way." He remembered the reason for the strategy meeting. "Have you guys taken out any Servants yet? It would be nice to pool our info."

Shirou and Saber both blushed at the same time. "Well, er... we fought Berserker."

Lancer perked up at that. "Great! That means one less Servant for us to take out." He kept changing the channels until he reached on that was doing a special on different types of flowers.

Saber and Shirou looked at each other. Finally, Saber decided to speak. "We, um, kind of, uh, lost that one." Shirou braced himself for the inevitable backlash.

"And you're still alive? Impressive." Lancer didn't even seem to mind. "When I fought that guy he was a total beast! I couldn't even scratch him. And that little girl with him? Totally crazy. I'd say you're lucky to even be alive right now." He stared at the different types of flowers with actual interest. Sakura looked as well, and found herself sucked into the myriad of colours.

Shirou decided to speak this time. "Well, have you accomplished anything yet?" He asked.

"Huh, me?" Lancer blinked. "Oh yeah, I took out Rider, obviously. I also fought Assassin but lost pretty badly. But I survived because something really freaky happened." He didn't even take his eyes from the television, as if it was some kind of miracle of technology.

"Freaky?" Sakura and Saber asked at the same time.

"Yup, freaky. And I've seen some freaky stuff in my time, but this takes the cake." Lancer sighed and turned off the TV. He turned to face the three people in front of him. "He was about to strike a finishing blow, when some guy's hand burst through his chest." Lancer continued without even wincing or holding back. "From the INSIDE. After that he dropped his sword, and a bunch of crunching noises started coming from inside his body. The last I saw of him was the hand trying to rip its way out of his body."

Shirou gulped. Saber looked unsettled, and Sakura had started shivering, and grasped onto Shirou's hand again unconsciously.

Lance kept talking. "By the way, that sword you used last night?" He looked at Shirou. "That was his weapon. And honestly, I don't know what you did with it but for a second there you managed to block knives travelling as fast as bullets. I'm pretty sure the thing, or person that attacked us was what came out of Assassin."

Saber frowned. "I fought Assassin once as well. He referred to himself as a wraith, or a fake."

Lancer nodded. "Yeah, he did the same thing when I fought him. Almost as if he wasn't even real."

Shirou spoke up. "When I reinforced that sword, it's almost as if these memories flowed into my mind. I was... a farmer, and I wanted to cut down this bird that kept flying around, so I swung my sword again and again all my life, until... I cut it down. Then, a voice... telling me... I could take the name of Sasaki Kojiro as the False Assassin." He clutched his head. "I can barely remember it, but when I hold that sword it's like I'm seeing into its history."

Saber scratched her head in puzzlement. "Honestly, in all my time as a Heroic Spirit I have never seen something like this. If only we had someone who might actually understand this..."

"I... think I might know what happened." Sakura said. All eyes turned to look at her. She blushed. "Um, well, if Assassin said he was a wraith and a False Assassin then doesn't that mean a True Assassin must exist?"

Shirou didn't understand. "What are you saying? There can only be seven Servants in the war, right? Tohsaka said so when she explained it to me."

Sakura hesitated, but forged on. "But what if... he was not a true Heroic Spirit?" She remembered. Though she hadn't been taught much magecraft by her grandfather, occasionally she would hear Shinji talking about the war with him, and sometimes she borrowed her brother's books to take a look. "Sempai... you said that you felt yourself being given the name Sasaki Kojirou, right?" Shirou nodded hesitantly. "Then, doesn't that mean Sasaki Kojirou wasn't that man's name in the first place? And if he wasn't a true Heroic Spirit, but a false one, created by taking a soul and forcing it into the position of a Servant, then he'd be a false Assassin!"

"I never figured an Assassin could fight me to a standstill in direct combat." Lancer added. "And he never actually did anything sneaky either. I honestly would've thought him to be a Saber if I hadn't already met her."

"Yes, he was much too powerful in direct combat to be a True Assassin." Saber agreed. "So then, what was the creature that came out of him?"

Sakura gulped. "That must have been the real Assassin. He was summoned from inside the false one, taking his place. Whoever did that must have fooled the Grail War system into believing that only one Servant of each class could exist at that moment. He then overwrote the False Assassin's existence with the True Assassin." She finished with a sigh, her explanation complete.

Shirou still looked confused, but he just nodded his head, pretending to understand everything.

"Anyway, now the issue of Assassin is pretty much finished." Lancer yawned. Normally someone would've been at least unsettled by the graphic description of a man clawing his way out of another, but to someone capable of killing thousands of soldiers a day, such an experience was nothing special.

"So, let's get down to the real business." He grinned again. "Who do we take down next? We've got Berserker in the woods, Caster on the temple, and Assassin running around somewhere. We can't kill Archer, unfortunately, 'cus apparently you guys have allied with his Master." He leaned back. "So, the way I see it, we have two choices at the moment."

"First, we go and take down Berserker, who I'm pretty sure lives in a castle somewhere."

"Second, we go after Caster, who's still on top of the temple taking people's lives."

Saber and Shirou both pondered what to do. "Berserker is strong." Shirou finally decided. "We should save him for last. And besides, Caster has been sucking the life out of the townspeople at night. We can't leave her alone! I say we go after her first, and then look for Berserker."

Saber nodded. "I agree. Berserker will be a challenge, but Caster should be easy due to my magic resistance taking effect. Let us defeat her first."

"Alright! Let's do it!" Lancer stood up and grinned only to wince and sit down again, clutching his stomach. "On second thought." He groaned. "Let's leave it until tomorrow. My wounds should be fully healed by then."

Shirou nodded. "I don't like the idea of leaving her alive for any longer..." He spoke. "But you're right. It's better not to risk going alone with just Saber as protection."

Saber blushed. "Just Saber? Am I not good enough for you, Shirou?" She asked, her head hanging low.

Shirou paled. "No! No! It's just... I don't want you to have to focus on protecting me, and if we go alone that'll be the case!" He babbled, at the same time turning red himself.

Now it was Sakura's turn to get angry. "What do you mean Sempai? It's much too dangerous for you to go along! You should stay here with me!" Her hold on Shirou's hand tightened painfully.

"Now wait just a minute! I have to go!" Shirou protested the dual pronged assault. "As Saber's Master I have to be there!"

"But what if you get hurt?" Sakura asked. "What if you... die? Will you leave me like that, Sempai?"

Shirou gulped. "N-now wait just a second, Lancer will be there! He'll make sure I don't die! It's fine with two Servants, right?" He frantically opposed their accusations, but it was already too late.

"No it isn't, Shirou." Now Saber joined in. "Maybe if there were three Servants, but that is sadly not the case in this situation." She clenched her fists. "I agree with Sakura, two Servants are not enough to protect you in this assault." Her terms had been made clear. Shirou could not participate in the fight.

"My my." A new voice joined in the conversation. The people in the room froze, and looked around, until finally Shirou spotted the newcomer leaning against the doorframe. Her form could easily be seen.

Tohsaka Rin smiled cruelly. "Who said there would be only two Servants?"


	11. Interlude

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 9.5: Interlude: Dreaming<p>

So that's the plan then. Tomorrow, we attack Caster. Normally I would've wanted to do so myself, but I get the feeling that I should work with these people, so we'll do it together. Right now, it'll be me, Saber, Archer, the kid, and that Tohsaka Rin girl. They've decided to leave Sakura here since it'll most likely be too dangerous for her.

Can't say I agree though. I don't want the girl being left alone, but they're right when they say it's the best thing to do. As far as I can tell, she's a Servant-less Master, and that's always bad news. Anyways, I've reinforced the boundary field around this place with my runes, so it should keep most riff raff out, although a Servant will be able to break through it pretty easily.

From the beginning though, I didn't expect Archer to show up. Whatever he did yesterday after saving us, he seems to have chased off Assassin, although I keep feeling something off from his story. Still, the Tohsaka girl has a good head on her shoulders, and she can keep that stupid bowman in line.

Once she arrived, it only took a short while to explain everything that we'd been talking about previously. Archer, the bastard, voted for killing me right off the bat. As if he even could. Even in this condition I can take down that pathetic excuse for a bowman. Of course Tohsaka immediately shot him down. I think I like her already. She's already accepted my alliance proposal, although only until we take down Berserker.

Anyways, she agrees with Sakura about Sasaki being a wraith. Getting my ass kicked by a damn fake should be pretty embarrassing, but I don't really care. I can honestly say that he won fair and square, even with all the terrain disadvantages I had. It's a shame that damn sandworm of a True Assassin showed up in the end. Actually should I even be saying that? He did save my life after all, even if it was by accident.

But damn, the people in this war are tough. I barely won against Rider, and got absolutely pulverized – no wait that's a bad word to use, -splattered, by Fake Assassin. And that damn Archer who uses swords...

Bah, whatever. I don't want to think about that. I'll just focus on tomorrow's battle. Caster shouldn't be much trouble against my Magic Resistance, and Berserker won't last long against three of us. Then I'll be able to finally kill that Archer, fight Saber properly, and take down Kotomine. And then I can bring back Bazette.

At least I don't have to sleep in the shed this time though. Shirou decided to lend me one of the spare guest rooms for the night. This futon is pretty uncomfortable, but I still need to sleep if I want my wounds to heal in time for tomorrow, so here goes nothing...

_I'm floating. Where am I floating?_

_There's a hill._

_It's green, with bright grass full of life._

_I... want to climb that hill. I want to see what's at the top._

_I go. It's slippery. Even as I move forward I slide back down again. But I persevere. I need to see what's at the top!_

_**Why?**_

_Do I even need a reason? It's there, so I have to climb it. I continue to climb, and make progress. I've gotten used to the slippery parts, and I can now move around most of them. As long as I choose my path carefully I'll make it to the top._

_I've gone a long way. I can already see something at the top of this hill. It's a shape. A human shape, standing, pointing to the sky. I want to meet that person. I feel that if I do, this whole trip will have been worth it._

_**Is it worth it?**_

_Of course it is. I have to believe it's worth it. If it isn't, then what will all the climbing have been for? I can't go back, because that would mean I lost._

_And that's unacceptable. I refuse. I won't fall back down. I'll keep climbing. Even as my body is growing heavy from wear I'll keep climbing._

_**Why not just stop?**_

_Because if I do then..._

_Then..._

_I... don't know. I don't know anything other than this hill. It's scary. If I get to the top then maybe I'll be able to see the rest of this world._

_Then it won't be so scary anymore._

_I'm close now. The figure is thick. The setting sun is obscuring it, but I can definitely see a human figure there!_

_I run. I want to see it. I want to see what I have worked so hard to accomplish! I want to know what lies at the top of the hill!_

_**Must you? Must you climb?**_

_Yes. I must._

_**No one is forcing you to climb.**_

_That doesn't matter. I'll climb because I want to._

_I'm finally there. At the top. The sun is behind the figure. Now that I can see it, the figure is about as tall as me, but much wider and thicker._

_I walk around the figure. Once the sun is at my back I'll be able to see my destination._

_**What about the view?**_

_I don't need that. I can just stay here forever, now that I'm at the top. The sun is setting. I'll only be able to see either the view or the figure._

_I don't need the view. What use is it to me, who is already where he needs to be?_

_The sun is at my back._

_**Do you need this?**_

_Yes. This is what I need._

_**You don't have to. No one would hate you if you stopped here.**_

_Shut up. This is the only path. There is nothing other than this hill. Nothing! There is nothing to see out there! I'll stay here forever!_

_The sun is at my back._

_I look._

_The stone is tall. It is smooth. But it is marred. Chains circle it. And I see two human figures strapped to the chain._

_One is a woman. She has red hair, and is wearing a suit. One of her arms is missing. Her body is already rotting. I can see the maggots writhing around her flesh._

_I shudder, and quickly turn my eyes to the other._

_The man is wearing a blue jumpsuit, marred by hundreds of wounds and scars. There is blood everywhere. He has tied himself to this stone. He carries a spear in his free hand, to fight off anyone who dares to untie him._

_Why does he seem familiar?_

_**Do you want to stay here?**_

_Yes. I... want to stay here?_

_Do I?_

_It doesn't matter. The sun has set. I cannot see anything other than this hill._

_It's fine, right?_

_I grab those chains, and tie myself to the stone. No one moves. I am the only one. I pull the chains tighter, until I can barely move._

_One more._

_If I pull one more time I won't be able to free myself._

_**Do you want to stay here? Is this where you want to be?**_

_I..._

_The corpses aren't smiling._

_My hand is moving._

_The smell of rotting flesh._

_No._

_Nothing but death._

_It pulls tighter._

_They are tied here._

_No!_

_The chains cannot be broken._

_NO!_

_And I scream._


	12. Chapter 10

The couch thing is an inside joke. Don't worry if you don't get it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It is owned by Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 10: Caster<p>

Lancer groaned. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he, Saber, Rin and Shirou walked up the stairs to Ryudou temple.

Shirou noticed his apparent discomfort. "Did you not sleep well?" He asked.

Lancer sighed. "Figures, one of the only times I get to sleep in centuries and I have a fucking nightmare. If it wasn't for my wounds I wouldn't have even had to sleep." He yawned. "And no, I didn't sleep well."

They had all gotten up early in the morning, with the exception of Lancer. Shirou had left him to sleep since he'd seemed tired, and they went along with their daily routine before nightfall, when the spearman had finally decided to wake. And he definitely didn't appreciate learning that he'd been sleeping for a full 20 hours.

"It's your fault for leaving me sleeping all day." He yawned once more.

"You seemed pretty deeply asleep." Shirou replied. "I don't think I could've woken you even if I'd tried."

"Indeed." Saber added. "It is a miracle you even woke up. I would have mistaken you for dead had you been a human. Since you are a Servant, it is undoubtedly because of your healing wounds."

"Sleeping like the dead." He muttered. "What's next, unable to stop fidgeting? This is the fucking priest's fault somehow, I know it."

Rin blinked. "The priest. Do you mean Kotomine Kirei? You've met him?"

Lancer nodded. "He just pisses me off. And believe me, I wish I'd never had the chance to talk to him."

She nodded happily. "Yep, I know how you feel. I had to put up with the guy for years. He was the worst caretaker ever." She shuddered. "He'd always buy me clothing that didn't fit me for my Birthdays..."

Lancer winced. "I pity you then girl. By the way, where is that Archer anyway? I don't see him anywhere." He could faintly sense the Servant's signature, but couldn't see the white haired man.

"Oh he's in the woods, following alongside us." She replied. Then she snickered. "He says he'll cover the close range fighters with arrows, but I know the real reason."

"Oh?" Lancer raised an eyebrow. "Do tell. Is he embarrassed to see you? Or is he just afraid I'll tear him to pieces after our last fight?"

Rin chortled. "Nope. Even better! A few days after I summoned him, I think it was the day before yesterday, I found some... evidence of certain... improper acts that he may have committed." She giggled again, but for a moment her face fell. "But now I have to buy a new couch... it'll ruin my budget for sure, all because he can't control himself!" She stomped on the ground in anger, only to stop when Saber and Shirou turned their heads to look at her at the exact same time. "Hehe, oops?"

Saber just shook her head. "We must not tarry, Rin. We must stay focused. Caster is no doubt very devious, and I am sure that she has several traps waiting for us." She narrowed her eyes. "Archer has not reported back yet, so I believe that the staircase at least should be clear. But just to be safe, allow me to go first." She looked back, and made eye contact with Lancer. "I shall be counting on you to bring up the rear, Ireland's Man of Light."

He nodded. Instantly, Gae Bolg materialized in his hands. It was unusual, because materializing it would only take a second, and keeping it hidden was undoubtedly better for stealth. But he kept it out, because he knew that the single second it would take to materialize it could be the key between survival and death.

Shirou moved into the center, right behind Saber, while Rin took up a position in front of Lancer. Shirou carried Assassin's sword, which he had said was called Monohoshizao, as well as a wooden sword in his backpack. As he walked, he poured prana into the weapon, to analyze and reinforce it as much as possible before they arrived. Already he felt the history of the weapon start to flow into his mind.

They moved. The climb was uneventful, yet not a single word was spoken. All the participants kept their senses strained to their limits in order to catch even a hint of magecraft or presence. The trees on either side of the staircase seemed menacing and full of shadows that could hide an entire army, and the dark gate at the top of the mountain began to resemble the door to hell. The silence stretched on, with the procession slowly moving forward up the mountain.

Finally they reached the gate. Unlike before, Assassin didn't appear to stop them. Although the man had undoubtedly been an enemy, Lancer felt as if the world was worse off without Sasaki Kojirou guarding the gate to the temple. If nothing else, he preferred the man to whoever True Assassin was.

They passed through the gate easily, and as soon as they did so each felt the strain of the boundary field disappear. Here, within the temple, they would be able to fight at full power.

They began to cross the temple grounds. Usually several monks would be seen doing their day to day business, but at night, after the sun had set, they were no doubt already sleeping.

Or worse. They had already become food for Caster's hunger. Shirou hoped that wasn't the case.

It was when they reached the center of the courtyard that Lancer felt the first traces of magic form around him, warping the world itself.

"Get down!" He yelled. Instantly he created his strongest shield over the group, just in time to block a barrage of light that turned the world itself white.

The earth rumbled. The clouds burned. The smell of dust and dirt wafted through the air, and smoke obscured the courtyard. Lancer's shield briefly flickered and died completely, having been barely enough to block the damage. Instantly the group went on alert. Rin prepared her Gandr spell, Shirou brandished Monohoshizao with unnatural beauty, Saber tightened her grip on her invisible blade, and Lancer held Gae Bolg loosely, prepared to strike instantly.

"Oh dear." A voice could be heard. "Why, it appears some pests have found their way into my home? I suppose this means I should begin the extermination before the infestation worsens." The sultry voice purred, as if deriving a cruel pleasure from watching as its enemies grouped together in a futile attempt to oppose her.

And as the smoke cleared, the form of Caster became visible.

High in the sky, under the pure white moon. Her cloaked form floated freely in the air without any visible signs of magecraft. Her face was hidden underneath a dark hood, invisible to their eyes. She carried a single staff, and nothing else to indicate a Noble Phantasm.

And the prana simply rolled off her. Lancer could feel it. The woman commanded vast amounts of magical energy, and she could control every since unit of it. The energy stockpiled for days in preparation for a threat was finally being used, against them, for better or for worse.

"Do be nice and die quickly my dears." She giggled. The mocking tone could clearly be heard. "Now, come forth, my army of Dragon Tooth Warriors!" She raised a single hand into the air, and murmured a few words. Instantly, numerous groans, clacks, and creaks burst from every direction. From the gate to the temple, moving skeletons came pouring out, walking with all the efficiency of jerky puppets, but still moving fast enough to instantly block all escape routes.

"Damn." Rin cursed. "I didn't expect there to be so many of them... it seems you'll have to use that sword after all, Emiya-kun." Her eyes roamed the battlefield. "Stay together. We can take them out if it's only this much." Still, she prepared her magical crest to fire on command.

"Tch." Saber nodded reluctantly. "We have no way to reach her at the time... and the only thing I have that might work can't even be used in this situation." She frowned, and took her stance, waiting for the undead warriors to begin the attack.

"Heh." Lancer grinned. "No way to reach? Ridiculous. You just have to get creative!" He whipped Gae Bolg through the air several times, each time tracing the same rune over and over. In a second where there had been ordinary air stood a large revolving fireball. "Hah!" With a swing he launched the projectile at Caster. The aim was perfect. This fireball was powerful enough to pierce even the Matou Boundary field. There was no way Caster could evade it!

"Oh?" But the fireball simply splashed harmlessly against a shield in mid air. Now fully visible, they could finally see the true scope of Caster's defences.

"A moving boundary field?" In modern magecraft, such a defence could only be called exceedingly complex. And yet for a magi to be able to simultaneously maintain three layers of moving boundary fields around herself while supporting hundreds of familiars? It could only be called a living breathing impossibility.

Caster smiled. "Did you think me defenceless? No, Lancer, I know what you are capable of. I have been watching all of you for some time now." Slowly the skeletons began to move forward in short, jerky increments. "I know all of your abilities! I know all of your weaknesses and strengths. Everything!" She laughed out loud. "Hahahah! You presume to simply waltz into my home and expect me to fall this easily? Why, I haven't even shown you my trump card yet!" She raised her hand, and snapped her fingers. A single discharge of prana flickered from her hand.

The army charged. At the same time, and from every conceivable angle the familiars screamed bloodlust and death to all enemies. In short seconds, they finally clashed.

Weak. They were definitely weak. With one swing Lancer sliced through three warriors, and another took the lives of four more. Not a single one could reach him; he simply planted his feet and tore them apart without even trying.

Saber by comparison waded into the battle. She charged forward, into the masses, not afraid of an attack. She dashed through the bodies, slicing and dicing. Bones flew everywhere she passed, and not a single strike managed to land against her.

Rin took down the few stragglers that had managed to pass by the two raging Servants with accurate, pinpoint Gandr shots, while Shirou wielded the long sword with unnatural beauty, carving through the ranks of soldiers like a hot knife through butter.

And the fight continued. For what seemed like hours, but could at most only have been minutes, they fought against a limitless supply of familiars, as Caster simply sat in the air and watched, occasionally laughing. And eventually, it reached the breaking point.

"I can't fucking take this anymore." Lancer growled. A weak enemy that respawned endlessly was no fun at all, and If Caster wished to keep the stalemate going she'd have to try something better. With a flourish he spun 360 degrees, slicing apart the bodies of the familiars around him with one strike, and giving himself breathing room. "Caster!" He called out. "Do you really think we'll break this easily? I've battled with fish tougher than these stupid skeletons!"

She replied, the amusement clearly visible in her voice. "The point of these warriors of mine was never to kill you. They were meant only as a distraction, Lancer!" She raised her hand once more, and yelled out a single word, filled to the brim with magical power.

At the same time, walls of light appeared along the boundary field. The field inverted, its power focused only on the temple. The strain was instant. Lancer felt weighed down, and the energy it took for Saber simply to move tripled.

"Ah!" She slowed down instantly and markedly, as the weight settled on her shoulders and began draining her prana. Lancer found himself in a similar situation, and suddenly the once pathetic dragon tooth warriors began to seem more intimidating as they surrounded him. "Gr, so this is your plan?"

He cursed. They had been fools from the start. Caster had never planned on killing them, simply on draining them dry until they couldn't even move!

Even the humans began to notice the effects. Shirou found his movements dulling, as the memories in his head faded from view along with much of his prana. For Rin, it resulted in most of her Gandr shots dissipating as soon as she fired them.

"How about this? I shall starve you of your precious energy." Caster hovered, over the effects, seemingly unaffected by the drain herself. "This is how a real magician fights!" She laughed again.

Rin narrowed her eyes. This was bad. If she didn't do something, Saber and Lancer would soon fade away and Caster would gain even more power. Suddenly, and idea ran through her head.

"Shirou!" She called out. "Get back here and protect me!" He gave no sign that he'd heard her, but he slowly began working his way back towards his magus friend. "Saber! Lancer!" She called out. "I can reverse the effects of the field, but it'll take me some time to set up the effect! Can you protect me from that?" She asked, only to receive a nod and a grin in return.

Caster frowned. "Don't presume to know more about mage craft than me, girl! What makes you think you can defeat a woman whose skills are legendary?" She spread her hands out. "This field is impenetrable! It will inevitably suck the life from you and your Servants regardless of how resistant to magic they are!"

Rin smiled. As the two legendary warriors closed in around her for protection, she no longer felt scared of a lone woman with claims of power. "Sorry grandma!" She grinned. "But for the couple of thousand years that you've been dead, we've gone way beyond what you can do! What may have been the pinnacle of magecraft back in your day is just too weak now!"

"Don't get cocky little girl!" Caster roared. She spread her cloak, gathering up energy for a truly grand blast that would incinerate half of the arena. She had initially planned on not participating, but a certain Tohsaka Rin had put an end to those thoughts. Multiple A Rank spells materialized with a single thought, each powerful enough to destroy an entire house. For most magi, that would have been more prana than they would ever have at one time, but for Caster that was merely a drop in the bucket.

"Take this!" She screamed. The air lit up once more. Lancer's barrier wouldn't be able to stop this attack. No, it would have shattered immediately. The pinnacle of magecraft, approaching infinitely close to true magic, Caster's magecraft could not be compared to that of a modern magus. A barrier of runes couldn't stop divine spells from the Age of the Gods.

But something else could. Saber stepped forward, placing her own body as a shield. The spells impacted in the area around her. Multiple slammed mercilessly into Saber's armour, cracking the steel in places and singing the cloth. But when the smoke cleared, Saber stood unharmed, with Shirou and Rin safe behind her. "You shall not harm my Master." She declared. Nearby Lancer stood, unharmed as well thanks to a timely application of runes.

"Girl!" He called out as he desperately pushed away the approaching warriors. "Do it!"

"Now!" Rin yelled. She threw a single jewel charged with prana into the air. Despite the drain it contained as much as a single one of Caster's spells. "**Reverse!**" She cried. In an instant the jewel detonated, and the prana draining field cracked. A hole had appeared within it, and the boundary field instantly rushed to fill it. However, at that moment, the prana exploded outwards, meeting the force with an equal power of its own. As the two different sources mixed together, Rin tossed up yet another jewel. "**Fracture!**" She yelled. The jewel exploded once more, but this time the prana from its release mixed in with the existing spells, weaving them together. The two different spells tied together both tried to force themselves in the same space, with greater and greater intensity as they ate up the mana within the temple grounds. And as they did so, the previously tiny faults in the framework became large enough for Rin to notice!

She threw one final jewel into the air. "**Shatter!**" She screamed. The prana froze, expanding and contracting in ways that couldn't be physically quantified. Caster's field screamed. While it was undoubtedly superior to any such field that could be crafted in modern times, Rin's hastily put together counter was enough! With a final scream, the boundary field broke into pieces, along with the framework of Caster's trap.

Saber and Lancer both gave a relieved sigh as they felt their prana flows return to normal. Shirou just sat in stunned silence. "Whoah." He had seen the fireworks, and all he could say was: "Tohsaka, you were really cool back there."

Rin smirked, a talent she'd perfected by watching Archer for long enough. She looked up at the stunned Caster. "Hey grandma. Your spells may be powerful and all, but they're _terribly _outdated. Maybe you should update your dictionary next time!"

Caster screamed. A base, raw emotion built up out of pure anger and hatred. "GIIRRRLLL!" She roared, her magically enhanced voice echoing across the courtyard. "Fine! I didn't want to reveal my new pet so soon after the old one died, but I suppose I'll just have to use it now!"

She raised her hand. Clearly visible on the back were three command seals. Pouring prana into them, she called out.

"**Come! Destroy these irritating fleas!**" They flashed, and one seal disappeared from the back of her hand. Shortly, a rumbling could be heard within the temple. Lancer, who was closest, heard a sound he had never wanted to hear again.

"Oh crap." He knew that noise. Where had he heard that noise before?

"[_]!"

The inhuman roar echoed even in the open air. The entrance to the temple exploded in bits of wood and rock. A figure leapt out of the rubble, right in front of Lancer. He recognized this figure. He had seen it before.

Berserker screamed once more, and hefted the stone axe club above his head, ready to kill again.


	13. Chapter 11

In this chapter I will be introducing some elements from the second route of Fate/stay night, Unlimited Blade Works. Some things shown here do not appear in the anime.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It is owned by Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 11: Battle at Ryudou Temple<p>

"[_]!"

The scream tore through the night once more. Berserker roared again and again, each time louder than the last. The sheer power of his voice was enough to freeze everyone momentarily. Even Caster and the Dragon Tooth Warriors stopped simply to take in his awe inspiring aura.

"Oh crap." Lancer was the first to speak. Berserker, by simple chance had landed nearest to him, and farther away from the others. Lancer numbly repeated his words, too stunned to move. He had fought Berserker before. They had clashed, and Lancer hadn't even managed to penetrate the enemy Servant's armoured skin. Berserker's strength had been too overpowering then. A single swing from that crude axe sword could slice even a Servant in two.

Yet now, days later, the feeling of sheer terror had only increased. Lancer instinctively knew. Somehow, Caster had gained control over the most powerful Servant in the Grail War. No, Berserker had surpassed even that. If anything, the beastly man seemed to be even more powerful than before!

Caster giggled like a schoolgirl. Then her laughs became deeper, and more sinister. "AHAHAHAHA!" She remained floating in the air, in front of the moon. "You fools! This pet may be harder for me to control than my other one, but not a single one of you can even hope to destroy it!" She stretched out her hand once more. "Berserker, fulfill you orders!"

Berserker screamed once more, and then turned his eyes to his first enemy. Which just happened to be Lancer. He raised the axe club high into the air. It doesn't need to be said that he only used a single hand to do so. And he swung to kill, his strike punctuated by another scream.

Even as stunned as he was, Lancer's body instantly reacted to the attack. He leapt backwards, dodging the swing with almost no space to spare, while it destroyed half a dozen Dragon Tooth Warriors that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He shook his head to calm himself down. _Get your head together. This isn't a problem. You've already got plenty of ways to deal with this guy! _He opened his eyes. This time there was no confusion or fear, simply thirst for battle.

"Fine! If you want to take me on then come get some!" He roared back at Berserker, and charged. He leapt over Berserker's next strike, barely, and thrust his lance point blank into Berserker's forehead.

Clank.

It bounced off. Not even a single scratch on that adamantine skin, but Lancer's arms shook from simply hitting Berserker. Gae Bolg, the demonic lance that always pierced the heart, could not even hurt its target. Berserker attacked with his other hand, reaching to crush Lancer with a single fist, but Lancer jumped away again. Though the demon Berserker had become was stupidly fast, Lancer still held a slight speed advantage over his enemy. Even though he didn't like it, Lancer was a master of running away.

Lancer launched a burst of attacks, scraping through Berserker's nonexistent guard, and barely avoiding the man's own wild swings. But every single strike skittered across the impenetrable skin.

"Tch. How the hell do you even hurt this thing?" He muttered under his breath. As he did so, he looked around to gauge the battle. Shirou was still stunned, but Rin seemed to have recovered, and Saber was protecting both of them. Caster was still hovering in the air laughing, which really pissed Lancer off.

"Oy! You old hag! Why don't you come down here and fight instead of letting all your little friends do the work for you!" He called out, as he backpedalled away from the walking earthquake that was Berserker. Another sweep of the stone club instantly crushed four more skeleton warriors as it missed the agile Spearman.

"There is no need for me to fight when my pets are enough to kill you." Caster seemed to regain her composure. "You will not be able to defeat Berserker regardless. I killed him three times trying to take his command seals, and I had to use my most powerful magecraft just to pierce that skin of his. I doubt you'll be able to kill him even once!"

What? Killed Berserker three times? Impossible! Lancer didn't understand. Three times? And Berserker had somehow come back to life every single time? Was he truly un-killable? Would Gae Bolg fail as well in killing a man who could thrice defy death? "You bitch." He growled. "You couldn't fight with your own power so you stole another Servant? I despise people like you!"

"And I despise mutts such as you." Caster calmly responded. "It is only the fault of his weak Master than this happened. All I needed to do was grab the girl and he couldn't even touch me!" She giggled, and gestured with a finger once more. "Bring the thing out, please, Souchirou-sama." The rubble shifted, and a man emerged unharmed. Unlike Berserker he was clad in a dark grey suit. He looked like an ordinary Japanese male, with short black hair and glasses. The only thing unusual about him was his cargo.

"Is this what you wanted me to do, Caster?" His voice was average as well, but it carried a subtle killing intent. Clutched in Kuzuki Souchirou's hands was the tiny body of a young girl. Lancer spotted white hair, and a purple jacket, before he realized who it was. "The girl? Or as you call her, the Lesser one?"

Ilyasveil von Eizenbern. The former Master of Berserker. She didn't move at all. Her eyes were closed, and her body limp. It was only because of the sheer amount of prana Lancer sensed from her body that he knew she still lived.

"Ilya!" Ah, the kid had seen her. Shirou was on the other side of the courtyard from Lancer and Berserker, away from the former Master, but he somehow noticed her. The grip on Monohoshizao tightened. He ground his teeth in anger. "You bastard!" He ran. He sliced through each skeleton in his way with the sword as if it weighed nothing. He didn't really understand why he was doing this. He didn't know this girl. She had even tried to kill him once! She was undoubtedly an enemy.

But...

"_You better summon it soon, Onii-chan."_

That voice was not that of an evil person. It had been a young child's voice. Innocent, and free of hatred. So he ran. To save a little girl. Because that's what a real hero would have done.

"Ah, Emiya-kun!" Rin yelled to stop him, while blasting away the still incoming skeletons with her free hand, but she hesitated. That girl was an enemy. She shouldn't have to be saved by him. But, he seemed stronger, running to save someone like that. Someone who shouldn't be stopped. An ideal that deserved to exist. _Wait, what was that about ideals? _She though. _Bah, whatever. That idiot better survive. And Archer! Where the hell is the backup you promised?_

Saber reached out to stop him as well, but for an entirely different purpose. "Master, not that way!" She cried. Not towards that man! Not towards Berserker! She took off, to save her foolish Master. But before she could move, a dozen Dragon Tooth Warriors latched on to her, each holding her back from moving towards her Master. "Damn it!" Finding her sword arm held, she swung her free hand. Even without a weapon available her strength was easily enough to crush steel, and the skeletons began to fall apart. But where one fell, two more appeared. "Are they purposefully trying to slow me down?" Still, she wouldn't let something like this stop her!

Up in the air, watching over the battle, Caster couldn't help but laugh once again. It had been so easy! She had simply gone to the Eizenbern Mansion, and battled Berserker. Using her magic she'd been able to kill him once, and with that Ilya girl ranting and kindly explaining his abilities, cornering the dumb brute had been simple. Admittedly, she had been forced to kill the thing two more times before she managed to stab him with Rule Breaker. And then, his command seals were now hers!

It had been slightly irritating when the brute refused to strike at his old Master. She hadn't expected the Berserker class of being able to form bonds with such madness, but Herakles had apparently done so. Still, she refused to waste a command for such a trivial task, and had taken the girl herself. Of course, it was only when she examined Berserker's former Master that she had found out the truth about her...

And now she was invincible. After defeating these last points of resistance here, she would be uncontested as the winner of the Grail War! She would finally have her wish granted! And nothing would be able to come between her and Souchirou-sama...

"...Don't bother dodging, Caster."

The only hint she got was the voice. She barely heard it amid the clashing sounds of battle below, and even then it was faint. She turned towards the temple gate, where he shields had been erected. "Who?" She spotted someone. Who could it have been-

WHOOM!

"AAH!" A shining beacon of light erupted from the figure. A missile, no, an arrow! The arrow blasted towards Caster as fast as lighting, bursting to the breaking point with prana. It was built for destruction, plain and simple. Nothing would stand in its way, and it would not miss its target. Caster could not dodge. She could only watch as it moved ever closer to her. She tried to raise her staff, to maybe teleport away, but the arrow was too fast.

It impacted. No, it stopped short. In the air, a barrier had appeared, to hold back the encroaching pressure. Formed of Caster's strongest magecraft, her pre prepared boundary field automatically activated to destroy the intruding arrow. It cracked under the sheer weight and power of the weapon, unable to fully block the blow. Finally, it shattered, having succeeded in stopping the arrow for a fraction of a second.

Yet once more the arrow was stopped. Another, stronger boundary field appeared, once more halting the projectile. This time the stakes were more even. The first field had substantially drained the arrow, enough for the second to stand a chance at blocking it. The two forces battled for supremacy, but slowly and surely the arrow inched forward, through the boundary. It had proven superior, barely, and the barrier cracked and shattered.

But one last field appeared. This boundary was the strongest, capable of stopping even a great Noble Phantasm. Caster had spent long minutes making this field in preparation for her final battle, infusing it with prana. The arrow halted abruptly. No. It would not be able to pierce this barrier. Not after being drained of almost all momentum by the first two.

"Explode." The same voice commanded.

The arrow cracked, and shattered. Instead of collapsing, however, the prana inside of it swelled, and burst! An explosion powerful enough to destroy a house rang through the air, ringing against the boundary field. Even as powerful as it was, the field cracked, and fell apart from the sheer force of the point blank reaction. As the brief smoke cleared, it revealed Caster unharmed, but devoid of her previously prepared defences and her face twisted with hatred.

"It couldn't be... Archer?" The light of the moon behind her revealed the form's true identity. Atop the gate, Archer stood, bow drawn, and already preparing another arrow. His face was clear, but even from her position Caster shuddered. What could she have done to make such an emotionless person mad?

"You made a mistake, Caster." He said. There was no threat in his voice. In sharp contrast to his eyes, that voice held no emotion to the average listener. But Caster was different. Looking at his eyes, and listening to his voice, she understood. He was sending a message of death. He would kill her. Caster would not survive this war. "I'm afraid it was a grave mistake. You'll have to pay the price for it."

"You." She gulped. Archer? Of all the possible opponents, he had been the one she least expected. Especially after that night. "Didn't we have an agreement, Archer." She hissed. "You said you would join me!" The night Assassin had been killed, Archer had arrived at the temple, with an offer of an alliance. Of course Caster accepted. She could always use him until the end of the Grail War. But she didn't think that she would be the one on the receiving end of a betrayal.

Archer didn't even blink. "I changed my mind." Another arrow appeared in his hands. "Like I said, Caster." It glowed. For a moment it appeared to be a sword, before once more shrinking into an arrow. "You made a mistake." He drew the bowstring back, but his eyes stayed fixed to Caster's own.

"And what mistake would that be, Archer?" Caster readied her spells. She whispered under her breath, drawing up prana to use. If Archer planned on betraying her, she would simply have to kill him.

Archer didn't even blink. "You chose to harm Ilyasveil von Eizenbern. The moment you did so, your death was assured." He released the bowstring at the same time that Caster launched her spell and the two beams of death collided, cancelling each other out with an explosion.

Swiftly he launched a dozen arrows in the span of a moment, but Caster instantly struck them out of the sky with a barrage of her own. They locked eyes again, for an even shorter second. And then the battle began once more.

Meanwhile, below, a similar exchange was happening, with one notable difference.

Lancer ducked under a swing from Berserker, and thrust Gae Bolg upwards. It connected with Berserker's leg, but once more it simply clanged off. Berserker returned fire with a downward swing faster than sound, but Lancer rolled to the side, dodging swing that crushed ground underneath.

He disengaged once more, panting. Hundreds of times he had struck. Again and again his lance had connected with Berserker, yet each time it was repulsed. He had tried several locations, arms, legs, head, body, but every place on Berserker's body was protected. Not even a normally weak spot was pierced. His hands stung from the repeated blows, but Berserker hadn't even slowed down.

"Damnit, this sucks." He muttered. What use would stabbing someone who didn't even bleed be?

"Lancer!" He heard a voice. He lifted his head to see Shirou struggling against three skeletons, much closer to him than before. With a sigh he grabbed a nearby chunk of rock and threw it, knocking off the head of one of the Dragon Tooth Warriors. With one down, Shirou sliced the other two into pieces.

Shirou ran to Lancer before the other warriors could close in. "Lancer, I need you to distract Berserker!"

"Whatever you want kid, just give me one second." Lancer jumped straight into the air, just as a swing from Berserk passed under him. The sheer force of the swing knocked Shirou backwards even though he hadn't been hit. "Hah!" Lancer twisted in mid air, thrusting Gae Bolg, and striking, this time at the top of Berserker's head.

But once more there was nothing, and the lance bounced off harmlessly. As he began falling, Berserker swung upwards aiming to slice Lancer while he stood in the air unable to dodge.

"Not happening!" Once more Lancer twisted in the air. The stone blade hit Lancer's feet and instead of slicing through launched the spearman even higher into the air! Lancer felt himself blown even higher. His feet ached, but no damage had been done.

Well, almost no damage. A stray arrow whizzed through the air, slicing Lancer's cheek. "OW! Watch where you're aiming you bastard!" He yelled at Archer, who was still trading blows with Caster.

Once more he began to fall down. Lancer spotted Berserker underneath, roaring in anger at being unable to hit his opponent. "Try blocking this!" He fell, tearing through the air. As that happened, Lancer pointed Gae Bolg downwards, straight at the still screaming Berserker.

"Let's see if your insides are invincible!" Like a streaking arrow Lancer fell towards his enemy, and Berserker roared once more.

Only to be cut short, as Gae Bolg travelled straight down his throat.

"!" He choked. The roar died out as a gurgle, and Berserker froze. Even his mind, addled by Mad Enhancement, noticed that he had just swallowed a cursed spear. Gae Bolg, meanwhile, travelled even deeper, piercing the stomach, the intestines, and the bladder until all that was left outside of Berserker's body was the part Lancer was holding on to.

"Now kid!" Lancer yelled. Shirou dashed past the struggling giant, sliced a passing Dragon Tooth Warrior in half, and ran towards Kuzuki Souchirou. Towards Ilyasveil von Eizenbern. Towards the girl he felt he had to save no matter what.

Meanwhile, Berserker gurgled once more. He moved, jerkily, to try and dislodge his unwelcome passenger. When simply biting didn't break Gae Bolg, Berserker lifted a single thick hand, and closed it around Lancer's neck.

"Urk!" Lancer choked as Berserker slowly squeezed. The hand pushed outwards, and slowly Gae Bolg exited Berserker's body. As it left it oozed blood, even more crimson than before, but Berserker didn't even seem to notice his injuries. He simply squeezed.

"Gack!" Lancer tried to draw breath, but couldn't. The hand around his neck was like a steel vice, unbreakable and unbendable. He clawed at it with his free hand but it refused to budge, except to get even tighter around his throat. Only a little more and it felt as if his head would pop off.

But Lancer hadn't entered that fight alone.

"Ha!" A shining blue steel comet descended from above. Her invisible sword crashed against Berserker's hands, and though it couldn't wound him it still forced Berserker to let go before it shattered his bones from the force. As he did so Lancer dropped to the ground.

And Saber landed next to him. Sword upraised, she prepared for another blow. At the same time, she looked to her right. "Can you still fight, Lancer?" She asked.

Lancer coughed and straightened. He looked at Berserker, then at his lance. "I'm ready."

Saber frowned. "I saw your battle while following Shirou. I cannot say that we will win. Berserker seems to be invulnerable to all forms of attack." Still, she held out her sword, prepared to fight a losing battle.

Lancer simple grinned. He brandished Gae Bolg, showing it off as it dripped blood. Berserker's blood. "He's not invincible." Lancer replied. Smelling the crimson fluid, his bloodlust returned. "He bleeds the same blood as all of us. And," He sank into his traditional stance. "As long as it bleeds, we can kill it."

Saber smiled. "Now I see why Shirou likes you, Lancer. You both do not have the concept of giving up."

"There's no such thing as an unwinnable battle." Lancer replied. "Only one that has yet to be won."

Meanwhile, Shirou sliced past the skeletons as he ran. His only goal was Ilya. He had to save her no matter what. But, as soon as he saw Kuzuki Souchirou's face he froze. The man stood straight in front of the girl, who lay on a flat piece of wood, still limp and weak. Kuzuki had settled into a battle stance.

"Sensei..." Shirou had tried to deny it initially. The man was obviously different! I couldn't be his teacher! But this close, seeing the man's face, Shirou had no choice but to acknowledge the truth.

"Why?" He asked. The point of Monohoshizao fell to the ground. "Why are you helping Caster?" He grimaced. "Is she controlling you? Are you being threatened? Why are you doing this?"

Kuzuki opened his eyes. His expression remained empty. "No. I am Caster's Master. I am aiding her because she asked for my help." He looked at Shirou's sword. "And you are my enemy."

"But why?" Cried Shirou. He couldn't understand. His teacher, the man who had only days ago stood in class and taught the class. Him an enemy? Impossible! How could such a man be evil? "Caster is killing people! She's planning on sucking the life out of the town!"

Kuzuki blinked at the comment, but he shook his head slowly. "I am her Master. You are Saber's Master. I don't care about the city. I care about what is right in front of me." The corners of his mouth sank slightly. "Fight, Emiya. I didn't teach you to hesitate." He clenched his fists. The distance between the two had shrunk to only ten meters.

"I don't want to kill you." Shirou pleaded one last time. "You aren't a bad person!"

"Emiya." Kuzuki spoke. "There is no good or evil here. Only me and you. If you want to save that girl, then you must kill me. Otherwise, die here, against my fists."

"..."Shirou looked down. He didn't want to kill anyone. He didn't want to hurt someone he'd known for years. He didn't want to. But...

He had to save Ilya. And if he had to kill to do so... then he would uphold his ideal.

Shirou raised his sword. He didn't enter any stance, but he was prepared for battle nonetheless. Monohoshizao resonated with him, and he felt the memories of a man called Sasaki Kojirou enter his mind and body. He wouldn't stop here.

After all, he was a superhero.

Meanwhile, up in the air, the battle between Archer and Caster continued.

Thousands of arrows and magical blasts had been launched. Hundreds had clashed. None had struck their targets.

Caster brought her hands together, forming an orb of prana around them, and throwing it at Archer with a single word. As it flew it split into a dozen smaller orbs, each powerful enough to obliterate him.

But the Archer fired, shooting each orb down with arrows that streaked through the sky like flashes of rain. He shot a volley of them at Caster, each one spaced mere millimetres apart.

Caster countered with a concentrated blast that vaporized the entire bunch, and continued on towards Archer. Unable to block it, he leapt off the gate as it was obliterated, and landed on the outer wall.

"Stay still you pest!" Caster screeched once more. She threw her hands apart and summoned countless points of power from the air. Each one screamed with prana, and with only a vague direction they sped towards the Archer, twisting and curving in unpredictable patterns that were impossible to dodge.

Archer just narrowed his eyes. "**Trace, On.**" Pouring prana into his hands, he materialized two Chinese dao, twin blades of ebony and ivory. As the balls approached he swung with all his might.

"Hah!" The speeding bullets were all chopped down, without an exception. Archer's blades cut through the magecraft, an impossible task. Yet those swords could accomplish it. His noble phantasms sliced past the magical defences Caster's attack had, destroying the order of the spell with their Authority.

Archer looked up at the floating witch as her barrage finally faded. He planted his blades in the tiles below, and prepared to summon the bow again, when he paused, and his eyes widened.

"You're annoying." Caster growled as the air around her churned with prana. While her reserves were virtually infinite, her patience was not. She didn't want to spend the entire night chasing down a single insect. She would destroy Archer surely and completely, with her most powerful attack!

She spread her cloak. Inscribed on its insides, various different runes and sigils glowed with power. She fed hundreds of units into the spells, more than most people would use in their lifetimes. And as she did so, her face twisted from a glare into an insane grin. "Disappear!" She screamed out a single word filled with power from the Age of Gods, and the attack was launched. Hundreds of different blasts flew towards the lone bowman, each deadly.

A multitude of beams assaulted Archer instantly. He could not shoot them all down. They were too powerful, too numerous, and he did not possess nearly as much prana as Caster. He knew she could keep this up all day, so he summoned the only thing his mind knew could win against the unstoppable barrage. And as the blasts struck, he spoke.

"**Rho Aius!**" Seven petals of light blossomed in front of Archer's outstretched hand. The magic impacted on the shield with an earth shattering force. No man would be able to withstand that much strength. No shield would be able to stop it. Archer would be erased, and his pathetic shield would break along with his body.

But the Phantasm that he had called forth was no shield.

It was a fortress.

The seven petals stood firm, and the unbeatable attack crashed and failed against the perfect defence. The lights struck, and died. Their force struggled to find a flaw in Rho Aius and couldn't. As each beam struck it detonated with unimaginable force, but the fortress stood firm. Finally, the main attack exploded against the defence, and the most powerful attack Caster had launched impacted the fortress wall called Rho Aius.

A single crack. One petal fractured, just a tiny bit. The attack seized its chance and poured its power into that one flaw, taking up all of its energy to break the supposedly flawless shield.

And a sharper crack. As the attack died, so did a single petal fall from Rho Aius. A single layer of the unbeatable wall fell to Caster's attack. But behind it, six more stood waiting.

Archer smirked. His greatest defensive Noble Phantasm was the perfect defence against projectile attacks. It would never bend to haphazard cannon fire. No, the only thing that stood a chance was a piercing weapon with the power to break through. But nothing could shatter the entire defence. Caster's best offense had barely been able to shatter one petal.

He prepared to take it down, when suddenly another beam struck his shield. And then another. And another. "What?" He frowned. Hadn't the attack ended?

No. It hadn't. It would never end until Caster ran out of prana. In the air she still hovered, pouring more and more of her energy into the attacks, continuously launching her most powerful mage craft to obliterate Archer. If one attack couldn't kill him, then she'd simply have to attack a hundred times!

A bead of sweat appeared on Archer's forehead. Another petal of Rho Aius shattered from the strain of holding back the encroaching tide.

"Hehehe." Caster giggled in between her chanting. The amount of spells being launched at Archer increased. The chanting increased in pace, and more and more spells flew towards the bowman.

Archer groaned as a third petal broke under the endless force of Caster's attack. His shield, while powerful, represented his own body. As it took damage, so did he, his body taking wounds.

"Hahahahaha!" The giggles changed to outright laughs. The spells swelled in power, attacking even more relentlessly, grinding away at the castle walls.

"You..."Blood dripped from Archer's mouth, and the skin on his outstretched arm began to burn. The fourth petal cracked and fell. He remembered a saying that he had once heard on his journeys.

"_A rock may stand tall in the ocean, and it will stand there for hundreds of years. But eventually, the rock will fall. Because the water does not stop. Even if it takes a thousand years, the water will eventually break through, and the rock shall fall into the depths of the ocean."_

"HAHAHAHA!" She screamed. The laughter grew and grew as Archer's once unbreakable defence lost its fifth petal. She threw mountains of prana at the fortress. Already thousands of units of prana had struck Rho Aius, and she used another thousand instantly.

Archer's shield rumbled, now down to its last petal. The once mighty fortress had been reduced to a thin wall between Archer and death. Blood ran down his arms. His hand shook with the effort of keeping the shield up. He spat out blood. And as his blood fell, he finally realized.

"Ah, she got me."

The fortress broke. Under the endless waves it had been eroded to nothing, just like Archer. Caster's barrage continued uninterrupted for an entire minute, before she finally stopped, panting. And once more, Caster laughed in triumph, as the warrior who had tried to fight her died under the onslaught of her endless attacks.

She giggled one last time as she gazed at the ruin that the temple wall had become. "You were a good plaything, Archer." She smiled. "But even if you are the most powerful fighter in the kingdom, you will always lose against the army of me, the princess."

And down below, in the courtyard, a tear ran down Rin's face. She raised her hand, hoping that it was a lie, that her senses had been wrong.

But as the connection between her and her Servant faded, so did the command seals on her hand, until they were barely visible. She shook her head, tears running down her cheeks, but the truth was right in front of her eyes.

"No." She whispered. "No!" She cried. "**Archer you idiot! Live! Live and come back!**" She activated her command spell, hoping against hope that he had survived. But even as the second spell faded from her hand, no Archer showed up in front of her. No knight in shining armour could survive the wrath of an entire kingdom.

And as Tohsaka Rin cried at the loss of her Servant and friend, the eternal princess Medea laughed. Her triumph had been sweet.

And it would only get sweeter.


	14. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It is owned by Type-Moon.**

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><p>Chapter 12: Enduring<p>

The battle continued.

As Rin cried in the middle of the courtyard, Saber and Lancer fought Berserker in another part of it. Their weapons clashed time and time again with his. He could not hit them. They could not pierce his skin. And so the battle had entered a long and gruelling stalemate, with neither side able to gain an advantage. Nonetheless, it continued.

Saber planted her feet and took a strike from Berserker's axe sword. As it collided with her invisible weapon, she felt the sheer force of the blow jar her arms and threaten to rip her blade from her hands. But she held, if only for a second, and that was all the time Lancer needed to strike. He dashed underneath the locked blades, thrusting Gae Bolg upwards towards Berserker. It struck him full force in the chest, and like the other thousands of similar situations, it bounced off harmlessly.

As Berserker's other hand came swinging around to grab him, Lancer hopped backwards, disengaging from the battle temporarily. Saber landed next to him, panting from the exertion of keeping the giant's blade still for seconds. "This is futile." She hissed. "We have not managed to hurt him even once! I think we should consider retreating."

"Not a chance." Lancer shook his head. The grin on his face told the whole story. "That man can be beaten. I know it." He readied the lance for one more attack, but Saber's hand grabbed it to stop him.

"Don't be a fool!" She retorted. "The only time you ever even successfully hurt him was when you got lucky and managed to shove that stick down his throat. And we shall not have that good fortune again!" She tightened her hold, preventing Lancer from going back to the fight prematurely.

Lancer sighed. "Well then we only have one option at this point." He glared at Saber. "If you feel like we should do something else, why don't you use that Noble Phantasm of yours?"

She hesitated. Her grip on Lancer's arm loosened. "T-That's... I don't want to reveal it to an enemy Servant." She couldn't use it. Not here, where Shirou could be hit.

"So you'd rather lose is what you're saying?" Lancer's eyes hardened. "Fine then. Stay here and die unable to even scratch that guy. I'm going to fight, because as long as I'm still alive it means he hasn't won." He violently tore her hand from his spear. "I'll fight, and beat that guy. And when all the other Servants have been killed, I'll go after you, just like I promised. So just stay there and let me handle everything!" He jumped at Berserker again with his spear upraised, ready to snatch victory from the jaws of certain defeat. He wouldn't run away from this opponent, no matter what.

"Ah." Saber raised her hand to stop him, but Lancer had already begun to battle once more. She sighed. "Why is it that I find myself on the receiving end of so many lectures in this war?" She murmured to herself. "It seems that everyone has a lesson to teach me." She smiled sadly. "Then I shall take your lessons to heart. I pray that they lead me to victory." She rose to her feet once more.

"Don't think you can take this win, Lancer!" Her voice rang through the air as she charged. As a blue comet she slammed into Berserker's side, knocking the warrior backwards through sheer velocity. He stumbled back, stunned momentarily. Next to her, Lancer stood panting.

"Oh? So you'll fight after all?" He asked.

Saber merely gritted her teeth. "Of course. Someone needs to make sure you don't die by any hand other than mine, Lancer." Berserker roared once more, raising the axe club high into the air.

Lancer raised Gae Bolg as well, and Saber did the same with her own invisible blade. "Don't die until I kill you then!" Lancer yelled. And they charged, the three Servants colliding once more. There would be no retreating from this fight. Not anymore.

And in the ruins of the temple, two more people fought. One to save someone, and the other to prevent that objective from being accomplished. The two could not cooperate. The only possible option was battle. And so they clashed again and again.

Shirou swung Monohoshizao straight down with both hands. It sliced through the air, moving straight for his opponent's head. But the man countered by swinging a fist upwards, knocking the blade off course and causing it to thud harmlessly on the ground.

Kuzuki Souchirou saw his chance, and shot forward, his other fist cocked and ready to strike. Like a leaping cobra it struck, aiming for Shirou's soft neck.

But the boy managed to intercept with his own hand, and was merely pushed backwards instead of having his head ripped off. He groaned from the unnatural force behind the blow, but nonetheless maintained the other hand's grip on his long sword.

Kuzuki didn't hesitate. He stepped forward once more to finish his reeling student, but Shirou swung desperately with one hand forcing the schoolteacher to step back away from its range. Kuzuki skipped back and leaned his head backwards. The tip of the sword passed scant millimetres from his nose, but it was enough for Shirou to get his bearings again.

Shirou panted. They had been fighting for some time, and now that he was sure of this man's abilities, he could finally try and formulate a proper strategy. Kuzuki seemed like a well oiled machine. There were no weak points in his stance that Shirou could spot, and the man moved too fast for Shirou to stop him. The only thing that had let Shirou survive was the skill and experience he'd taken from Monohoshizao, and his Reinforcement. Otherwise, Shirou knew he'd be dead. So how could he grab a win from this hopeless situation?

"You have improved." Kuzuki spoke in the small lull between the exchanges of blows.

Shirou smirked painfully. "And you move like a master martial artist. I don't know where you learned to fight like that, but you've been pushing me back the entire battle."

"It does not matter." The corners of his teacher's mouth rose ever so slightly for a fraction of a second, before he took the offensive once more, rushing to tear apart Shirou's life.

But he was ready this time. As Kuzuki's first strike snaked its way through the air, Shirou ducked and sliced low, aiming for the man's feet. But the teacher simply jumped upwards, continuing the forward motion. He instantly switched to a flying fist aimed straight for Shirou's face!

"Grr." Shirou desperately interspersed Monohoshizao between the foot and his head, and it took the blow, shaking all the while from the strain. Shirou rolled backwards to get away from his teacher's deadly fists and recover. "What the hell? No human should be able to hit like that. Are you a magus as well, Sensei?"

Kuzuki shook his head. "No. I am no one. Everything I do is simply the result of my training." He raised his hands once more. "Stop holding back Emiya. I can sense your hesitation."

"I'm not holding back!" Shirou growled. He charged for the first time since the beginning of the battle, and swung recklessly and wildly. Kuzuki simply took a step backwards and the blow hit nothing but air. In the next moment he moved forward, flowing like a snake, and striking like one as well! The first punch caught Shirou in the stomach, temporarily robbing the boy of any resistance or preparation, and the second closed around his neck.

"Gah!" He choked as his former teacher raised him into the air with a single arm. The hand around his neck tightened, crushing his throat and cutting off his air supply. Shirou gasped and sputtered, but the fist only tightened even more.

"I am disappointed." Kuzuki rumbled. He watched impassively as his student struggled for air. With a twitch, his fist tightened, and Shirou's throat was crushed even more. The boy's struggles began to slow down. Without air he was already weakening. In seconds Shirou Emiya would be gone from the world, along with his hopes and dreams. "I had thought you would be able to uphold those 'ideals' of yours, but it seems I was wrong about you, Emiya."

_Ahh... what is this? Everything's turning so... dark. _The world began to waver in Shirou's eyes. The colours began to pale, and his vision darkened around the edges. Shirou's struggles slowly slowed, and finally stopped. _What is he saying? _As the air left Shirou's bodyhis ears wouldn't work properly anymore, all he could hear was a muted humming. His eyes twitched, centering themselves on his teacher's lips. What was it?

The man seemed to be saying something, but Shirou couldn't make anything out. With the darkness spreading from the edges of his vision, the only thing he could see was the man's impassive face. And he said one last word. Shirou couldn't hear, but he recognized it. That one word.

Emiya.

Ah. That's right. He was Emiya Shirou. A superhero. He had to save someone, right? But who? Who did he need to help?

"_You better summon it soon, Onii-chan."_

That's right. The girl. Ilya. Her smiling face filled his mind. Her smile the first time he'd seen her. And the smile he saw as she had calmly ordered Berserker to kill him. But those eyes... why did they look so sad at that time? Why couldn't he bring herself to hate her?

"_I'll make your dream come true!"_

He had to save her, right? This was his chance. His chance to be a superhero. And even though he might have been a fake superhero imitating a real one, that figure that he aimed for wouldn't fall to something like this. So even if it was useless, he'd do his best to be just like that man, his father.

"I'll make..."

Shirou's hands twitched. The spark of life returned to his eyes. Kuzuki frowned. Hadn't the boy already suffocated? Still, if that wasn't enough then he would crush the boy's spine as well. He willed the muscles in his hands to move, and tightened his fist even more.

But he couldn't. The boy's throat had become steel. No, it was harder than steel. Kuzuki's eyes widened. Reinforcement? The boy had reinforced himself in that condition?

"...your dream..."

Shirou raised his free hand as the other tightened its grip around Monohoshizao. The lack of air wasn't a problem. After all, pearl divers could hold their breath up to five minutes, right? So it should be no problem for a hero to go twice that length! His hand closed around Kuzuki's wrist, the one holding Shirou's neck. He flexed, and bones crunched.

Kuzuki didn't react, save to increase the pressure on Shirou's throat. If his student wished for an endurance battle, he would get one. Shirou didn't back down. His fingers tightened even more, as Shirou poured every ounce of strength he had into a single limb. The darkness began to close around his vision again, but Shirou ignored it. He only saw one thing anyway. A young boy, burnt and bleeding, staggering through hell waiting for a hero to save him. So even as he slowly hung in the air dying he would forever move forward. He would repay those who he had failed to save, by never backing down again.

"...come true!"

A hand tightened. A limb was crushed, and a body fell to the ground.

Shirou gasped. His first breath of air in what felt like forever thundered through his lungs, bringing with it life and awareness. He shakily stood and raised his sword to strike at his teacher, who was clutching his limp and broken hand. Kuzuki looked up, only to see the sword flying towards his face.

Still, even as hurt as he was, the Master of Servant Caster had enough sense to hop backwards and grab the blade of the sword with his working arm before it went through his eyes. He grunted as it drew blood, but finally Shirou's sword had stopped.

Shirou narrowed his eyes, and took a step back, ripping the tip of Monohoshizao out of Souchirou's hand. The blade came free with a splatter of blood, but his opponent didn't even seem to be in pain. Regardless, even if it meant attacking a wounded enemy he would fight on!

And he charged once more. The advantage was his. Kuzuki had no working hands, and Shirou possessed a weapon. The battle had already been won. All that remained was to swing!

"Graaaa!" And he swung. With blinding speed Shirou threw himself forward, propelling Monohoshizao to slice through Kuzuki's waist with ease. It was his most powerful strike, more than enough to slice the man in half.

The sword stopped.

No, it was stopped. An inch from piercing flesh, the blade had been caught, not by hands, but between an elbow and a knee. "Foolish. The second you feel the taste of victory you abandon it." The man said.

"What?" Impossible. No, improbable. Was that even something a man could do? Yes, martial arts techniques existed to stop weapons such as swords barehanded, but to think that this man could perform such a technique... he must have been an experienced killer to risk such a thing as his own life to stop a single slash.

"Too foolish, Emiya." And with a twist of the elbow and knee, Monohoshizao snapped in half like a twig.

"Ah." Slowly, the image of a twisted hunk of metal burned itself into Shirou's eyes. He saw as the perfect weapon for him broke apart under repeated blows. While his mind reeled, his body moved instinctively, protecting itself from Kuzuki's attacks with the broken piece of sword still clutched in his hands. Kuzuki attacked from every angle, his fists curving to strike from any place, and again the broken sword moved to defend the boy's body, even sacrificing its own self to stop the fatal blows.

He watched, fascinated, as those fist pounded into his body again and again, and he moved oh so slowly to stop them. He saw those same fists strike his already broken weapon, shattering it further. First the blade began to fail. Pieces fell off, chipped away by the man's steel hands. Then the hilt came apart, and a final blow threw the last piece of metal to the ground, leaving Shirou clutching a piece of wood, weapon less and alone.

"This is your punishment for relying on a weapon, Emiya." Kuzuki said as Shirou fell to his knees still clutching the broken sword. "Weapons break. Fists do not. You cannot bring that weapon back to life, because I have killed it." He inspected his hands with the same blank expression he had worn the entire battle. One had a crushed wrist, and every movement sent pain through his nerves. The other had been cut heavily in the palm, but had no other wounds.

Those injuries were irrelevant. If Shirou had wanted to disable the man, he should have cut off those hands instead.

Shirou ground his teeth. He forced his wounded body to rise once more. _It's fine. This is nothing. _He told himself. _I still have my fists. Even if I don't have that sword anymore-_

_I still have it. _He blinked. Even though the blade was gone he could still feel the same calming presence take hold in his mind. The same presence he had felt every time he focused on that sword. But wasn't it from the sword?

_No. I had that feeling inside of me the second my hands touched that blade. As if its entire history was flowing into me. I still have that sword. I just need to bring it out into the world again!_

"**Trace...**"

"If you won't attack then I shall, Emiya." And with that, Kuzuki Souchirou dashed forward again. The scant two meters of space between them vanished in the blink of an eye as his fist flew forward to slam against the fallen boy's head. It would crush him like a grape, already he could see the ending-

"**...On.**"

Clang! His fist bounced off of metal, and instinctively Kuzuki threw himself backwards to avoid the inevitable counterattack. He was proven correct as a lightning fast slash, faster than any of the boy's previous ones, sliced through the air in front of him. He even saw as the very tip of the gleaming light shaved a few of his hairs off of his head

"What is this? I broke your sword." He furrowed his brows in confusion. Before him stood Shirou once more, but his aura had totally changed. Instead of a panicked child he seemed like a hardened samurai. And that sword. Why was it back in his hands? "How?"

Shirou smiled, a serene expression incomparable to one of his usual soft grins. "The sword lives on inside of me. I merely brought it into this world once more." And indeed, he felt as if the memories were not the weapons, but his. He recalled practicing over and over again, swinging that weapon repeatedly for hours and days and weeks. He remembered fighting. He remembered winning.

"I am ready, Sensei." He spoke softly. "I shall not hold back again."

Kuzuki nodded in approval. "Excellent. That is the kind of behaviour I expected from you. Now, show me what you have learned-"

"Wait! Souchirou-sama!"

They froze. Shirou, from fear, and Souchirou simply because his Servant had teleported in between the two. Caster panted, seemingly exhausted for some reason. Souchirou noticed several noticeable rips in her customary cloak, although there was no bleeding of any kind. She leaned on her staff, using it as a support to keep her from falling. Her hood had fallen, revealing a beautiful face and pale blue hair.

"Souchirou-sama, please don't fight this boy. He isn't even worth your time. Allow me. I can erase him from existence with a snap of my fingers." She raised her hand, and pulled out a shape from within the folds of her robe. The second it entered Shirou's vision, his eyes widened, as he analyzed it.

The knife could not be called a tool of war. It was too twisted, too impractical for combat. Just by looking at it Shirou could tell it was not meant for killing, but for something else. "I can harvest some more command spells to replenish my supply." Caster licked her lips and raised the dagger, as if preparing to stab Shirou from the short 5 meters between the two.

But before Caster could move, Kuzuki interfered. "No." He stated.

Caster blinked. "But Master, why?"

Kuzuki nodded in Shirou's direction. "He is my student, and my opponent. I don't want you interfering in my battle, Caster." He raised his fists, as if to inspect the wounds. "You may heal my wounds, however. They are irritating."

Caster bit her lip as if preventing herself from retorting, but finally she gave up with a sigh. After stowing the strange knife into her robes, she gently took Kuzuki's hands in her own, and whispered some words under her breath. A pale light shone from their intertwined hands, and in seconds nothing remained of the schoolteacher's wounds but a few drops of blood.

"...Thank you." Kuzuki nodded at the help, and Caster uncharacteristically blushed.

"D-Don't lose, Souchirou-sama."

"I won't."

Caster shot Shirou a dirty look. "You will die slowly." She hissed. "And I'll make sure your friends are there to watch your life fade from your cold dead body."

She spun violently, and darkness appeared, swallowing her body. In a second she had disappeared.

Both combatants looked at the spot where she had last been for a moment, before turning their gazes on each other. Neither blinked.

"Are you ready, Emiya?"

"Yes, Sensei."

"Then let us begin."

"...Yes, Sensei."

And while the two humans began their battle anew, Rin Tohsaka was fighting another kind of battle.

"You!"

Boom!

"Idiot!"

Crash!

"Why!"

Kabloey!

"Did!"

Gand!

"You!"

Pow!

"DIE?"

WAHOOOM!

The remaining Dragon Tooth Warriors finally fell the Rin's anger. In her fit she had used almost every spell at her disposal multiple times to destroy them. She couldn't even remember starting or stopping, just a terrible, all consuming anger that would destroy her from the inside if she didn't find an outlet for it.

So she fought. Endlessly she destroyed, crushed, obliterated, and pulverized the skeletons that mindlessly attacked her. She even waster several gems when they surrounded her, until she realized that she only had a mere 5 left and returned to ordinary spells.

While the others had fought, she had cried. While they ran, she stayed and vented all of her hatred upon the surrounding enemies. When they struggled, she laughed, easily annihilating all of her enemies yet still wanting more. More to kill. More to fight. More to drown out the idea that her Servant was dead.

"*hic* You d-dummy." A tear ran down her face as she finally ran out of familiars to slaughter. "What was all that ab-bout being the strongest Servant when you lost to someone like her!"

The tears quickened. "You idiot!" She sniffed. "After this you leave without even saying g-goodbye? And what am I supposed to do now?" She screamed in the air, but once more no one answered.

No one answered. Only the sounds of two different battles, along with Berserker's roars could be heard in the ruins. All the Dragon Tooth Warriors, hundreds of them, lay dead and scattered. Only Rin remained in the center of the courtyard, standing by herself.

"I... I must look like a fool." She sniffed once more. After a bit of fumbling she extracted a handkerchief from her pocket and clumsily used it to wipe her face. "Look at me, throwing a tantrum like this. I haven't done that since I was a child." She looked at herself. Dusty, dirty, and tired. This wasn't how a proper magus was supposed to look like. She wasn't supposed to be sad, or angry at Archer's death. After all, what did a simple Servant mean to a cold blooded killing machine?

"F-Fine. See if I care." She straightened up. Her eyes were red and puffy, but her face was firm. "I'll win this thing without you. I'll show you that you were lucky to get me as your Master!"

She forced her tired legs to move. A cursory glance at the sky showed no sign of Caster. "Probably off to gloat about her victory." Rin groaned as her muscles ached. She supposed that spending what seemed like hours fighting wasn't really the best thing for her muscles.

She reinforced herself and started limping towards where she heard Berserker, Saber, and Lancer battling. "Those idiots." She sighed. "They've been fighting for this long and there still hasn't been an end? I should've known they'd need my help again."

Up in the sky, a patch of darkness appeared once more. Caster stepped out, as if walking through a door, and observed the battlefield. "Tch. They took out all of them? I really should emphasise quality over quantity next time I make an army." She scanned the field for any signs of her enemies, but only noticed one.

"Ah, the self styled 'magus' of this era? She was the one who burst my boundary field. I suppose it's time to teach that girl to respect her elders." Caster raised her staff, and concentrated magic into it. It began to glow softly, then brighter as Caster poured more and more prana into it.

"Ha!" Finally it was ready. She released the spell, and it rocketed towards the unsuspecting girl at a speed of hundreds of miles per hour. This time, she wouldn't survive through some cheap trick!

But the prana bullet never reached its mark.

A blur intercepted the spell, tearing apart its foundations instantly, and harmlessly dispersing the prana into the air. Once more Caster whirled, searching the courtyard for any signs of life.

She found none, but her ears picked up a voice.

And eerily familiar voice.

"Caster... I told you... don't bother."

Her blood ran cold.

Impossible.

Impossible.

Impossible.

That could be him.

That wasn't his voice.

That wasn't his arrow.

And that wasn't his form she spotted standing at the ruined temple gate.

But it was.

Slowly, with a definite limp, the figure made its way into the temple. Caster didn't move. She was still struck silent by the simple fact that someone managed to survive having thousands of units of volatile prana thrown in his face. Her mind ran over the previous battle. She had won! His shield had broken! He had definitely been killed!

So how?

How could that man be standing right there?

His body barely resembled that of a human anymore. His red coat had been first scorched black and again coloured crimson by his blood. His once pure white hair had been coloured a dull grey by the dirt and dust. His hands were burnt husks barely capable of movement.

So why?

Why did he seem so confident? Why was that damnable smirk still on his face?

"Impossible." She breathed. It had to be a trick. There could be no way that this man still lived.

But he snickered.

"Improbable." He breathed. Even though his body had been mangled, that voice hadn't changed.

Archer's smirk slowly faded. "Didn't I say it, Caster?" He said. "Your death is assured. You will die by my hand, right here, and right now."

She screamed in rage. "YOU! I don't know how you survived but I won't let you get out of my sight again! I will eviscerate you this time! And how can you expect to match me in that condition when I defeated you last time!" She breathed heavily. First the attack, then Kuzuki insisting on fighting that boy, and now this? Too much. Tonight was too much! She would end it right now!"

Archer smirked once more. The same crooked smile graced his features. "You're right. I suppose it's time to stop fooling around."

And he closed his eyes, searched for the center of his being, and found his core. His soul. His sanctuary.

His armoury.

"_**I am the bone of my sword.**_"


	15. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 13: End of a Battle<p>

"Go!"

The mad warrior's axe club crashed down like a waterfall, splitting and tearing all in its way. The two warriors before Berserker twisted out of the way, and simultaneously attacked. The invisible sword and the cursed spear both struck at the same time, but once more they did no damage to Berserker's steel skin, only pushing the monster back temporarily.

At the same time, the waterfall became a hurricane as Berserker swept the sword from side to side. The chunk of rock was too fast and too powerful to be stopped, but Lancer and Saber both instantly switched from attack to defence, and took the blows on their respective weapons.

"Gah!" Lancer was pushed back, and Saber as well. The force of the blow could not be stopped even by a Servant, but their weapons had absorbed enough to offset any possible damage.

Instantly as the axe sword passed him, Lancer dashed forward, his weapon aiming for Berserker's head. Still, the insane giant brought back the club for another strike that would swat the spearman out of the air, or at worst, slice him in two.

But the axe sword stopped as Saber took the blow on her own sword, and for a moment the two attacks struggled against each other. Saber grunted from the exertion and poured all of her power and momentum into her weapon, but even then she could barely deflect the blow.

But that second had been enough. Lancer's aim was impeccable. Gae Bolg struck, slipping past Berserker's nonexistent guard and striking the giant in the eyes. Lancer's reward was a splash of blood, and an extra loud roar as Berserker registered the pain in his head.

Instantly the two backed away as Berserker roared again, and unleashed a swarm of blows too fast for them to block or try to avoid. Lancer panted as the rampaging giant's eyes slowly healed. Saber landed next to him in a similar condition, with her armour cracked and torn.

"We have been lucky so far." She said calmly. "But had we fought him alone we wouldn't have lasted this long. Berserker is truly a beast." She observed the man as he tore up the ground near him, searching for his enemies. Even disabled he was dangerous, enough that he could still kill them with a lucky blow.

"Tch. That's why I said we should use our Noble Phantasms against this guy." Lancer muttered. "I've fought him before. I remember that little girl saying something about his skin nullifying all Phantasms below B rank and giving him 12 extra lives or something." He frowned. "But apparently it's only limited to his skin. If we can break that sucker open we'll have a shot."

Saber narrowed her eyes. "If that is the case, then allow me to try something-"

"Hold it!" A sharp voice interrupted Saber before she could finish her sentence. Rin ran up behind the two Servants, panting and tired. "I've got a plan against this guy." She smiled tightly. "As long as you listen to me we can beat him!"

Saber and Lancer exchanged looks. "Well, what is it lass?" Lancer asked.

"Come closer so I can explain." The two Servants tilted their heads closer to Rin's, feeling quite silly the entire time. The obediently listened to Rin's plan, and while Saber's face underwent a variety of different expressions in that time, she didn't object.

As he listened, Lancer's grin simply widened. "How needlessly cruel of you." He snickered. "I think I might grow to like you, girl." But he frowned once more as her explanation ended. "Will that be enough, though? This is a man who can defy death 12 times over. Are you sure your plan will be able to kill him enough times?"

Rin shrugged. "If it all goes well, it should be meaningless how many times he can come back. Besides, why are you even worried? Any ability you have to use is one we've already seen."

Lancer nodded slowly at those words. "Fine. I suppose if you ask nicely I can lend you a hand." He smirked, and for a moment his face reminded Rin of Archer's. But she shook off the memory. Archer was dead. She was alone now. He wouldn't come to save her at the last second, so she needed to be strong by herself.

"Please help me, Lancer." She swallowed any pride that she may have had, and sincerely asked the blue knight for assistance, even as the red knight had died.

"Yeah." He finally replied. "I'll do it."

"And I shall help as well, Rin." Saber chimed in. "It is regrettable that I do not have a larger part in this plan, but my Noble Phantasm is not suited for this kind of battle." She twisted her face into one of regret. "I am sorry, Rin."

"It's fine." Rin said. "You're our backup. Just make sure everything goes as planned. We may need you to distract Berserker or hold him off temporarily though."

"I shall do my best!" Saber said enthusiastically. Unfortunately, her exclamation went unheard, as Berserker chose that moment to give an extra loud roar, as celebration for his eyes finally growing back.

"[Graagh]!"

"Well then, let's get this party started!" Lancer yelled! He leapt back into battle looking like a young boy who had just won the lottery. As he began evading the monster's attacks once more by the skin of his teeth.

Saber just sighed and rushed in after him, leaving Rin in the back. She gulped. _Well, here goes nothing. _She extracted one of her 5 remaining jewels. She focused on it, choosing what spell to use. She would only get one chance at this, and she couldn't waste it!

She didn't notice as the command spells on her hand began to glow faintly. The bond with her Servant started to re-establish itself ever so slowly. But Rin, too absorbed in her spells, never noticed.

And meanwhile, in the air, that same Servant who by all rights should have been dead, fought against Caster once more. While she floated and launched spells by the truckload, he dashed along the outside walls, occasionally hopping back into the trees to hide from an attack. In his condition movement shouldn't even have been possible, but he seemed not to notice his extensive injuries.

Archer's bow was back in his hands. He launched a flurry of arrows at Caster, but she simply raised a shield and effortlessly deflected them. Instead of blocking her return volley, however, he retreated into the woods once more, disappearing from her sights.

"You come back just to run away!" Caster screamed in anger. "What happened to all that confidence from before, Archer?" Still, she pursued, even leaving the temple to chase Archer's presence. Even if he hid he was no Assassin; Caster had a lock on his scent, and she would hunt him down to the ends of the world if she had to.

There was no response from Archer, save moving even deeper into the forest. Once more, Caster followed, all the while lobbing spells at the trees whenever she saw a possible glimpse of the elusive man. "You may run all you want but I won't let you escape!" She yelled.

"Hmph. Who said I was running away?" His voice came from behind. Caster whirled, only to see Archer standing on top of a tree, his trusty bow in his hands once again. "This is just a tactical relocation." He smirked. "Now that we're far enough from the temple, I can stop holding back against you!"

He raised his bow. Nocked to it was an arrow radiating prana. Archer smirked and closed his eyes once more. He focused once more on that armoury.

"_**Steel is my body, and fire is my blood.**_"

Still with his eyes closed, he released the arrow, and it flew true, straight for the frozen Caster. She growled. "Not this time!" And she released her own blast of prana to counter it.

The two collided. One an arrow trying to pierce its enemy, and the other a hastily thrown together spell meant to stop it. Initially matched, the arrow slowly advanced. Caster frowned, and pumped even more prana into her spell, causing the arrow and the spell both to detonate prematurely.

The midair explosion was tremendous, and once it cleared it revealed a still unharmed Caster. She giggled. "Is that all you have? And I though Archers were supposed to have stronger projectiles than that little thing!"

Then she heard his voice, from behind her.

"_**I have created over a thousand blades.**_"

She whirled around, and instantly created her quickest barrier.

Just in time, the second arrow Archer had fired collided with Caster's shield. Thanks to it, she managed to stop the glowing projectile, though she was still forced to continuously charge it with even more prana just to stop it from shattering instantly. However this arrow only grew more powerful, beginning to give off flames as it struggled to pierce the barrier in its way.

But once more the arrow detonated, shattering the shield instantly.

And when the smoke cleared, Caster's form was made visible. This time she hadn't come out of it without a wound. Her robes were charred, and the tip of her staff had melted from the heat. She hissed at the pain on her hands, which were red and smoking from the damage.

"Damn you!" She screamed, and spread her tattered robe. Instantly she poured ridiculous amounts of prana into dozens of spells. "If I can't kill you then I'll just burn down this entire forest!"

And she fired. Beams of light and heat lit up the forest, obliterating trees indiscriminately, and permanently scarring the side of Mt Enzou. Caster didn't care. Though she couldn't see Archer, she sensed his presence near her. And if she couldn't see him, then it would be no problem if she simply destroyed everything?

The only reply she heard was:

"_**Unknown to death, nor known to life.**_"

And so the destruction commenced.

A similar destruction was happening back in the courtyard. Berserker was a hurricane, swinging that axe club of his like a mad man. Each of his swings was an undoubtedly fatal blow. Each could kill even a Servant if they were not stopped.

But still, his two opponents had survived the storm. Saber stood her ground and weathered all of the blows. She tightened her grip on her sword as much as possible to avoid having it ripped from her hands with every blow that she was forced to block. Whenever it became too much for her, Lancer intervened, knocking Berserker off balance and taking control of the battle.

But the entire strategy was simply a stalling tactic. They had no way to hurt Berserker, so they waited for someone who could. Someone with a plan to kill that monster.

Rin.

Lancer found it odd that a hero such as himself was being forced to accept help from an ordinary modern magus. First working together with Saber, and now this? If he had been able to take down Berserker himself this wouldn't have been a problem in the first place, however, so he couldn't complain.

"Now!" He heard her cry. Instantly, instead of blocking the next attack from Berserker he jumped out of the way just as Saber did the same, leaving Rin a clear shot the Berserker. He roared in anger at losing his targets, until his insane eyes spotted a lone magus standing barely 10 meters away.

Rin gulped. Sure the plan had been easy to execute in theory, but it was one thing to be talking about killing a Heroic Spirit, and another to actually be facing it. The sheer pressure from his killing intent was overwhelming, and she had to fight every instinct in her body just to keep from running away. But she couldn't. She couldn't move her feet. She couldn't go up to that monster. If only... Archer was there...

And then she felt it. A pulse from her hand. A tiny connection between her and her Servant. She chuckled. Even if she was most likely hallucinating, she could at least pretend that the pulse was real. She could pretend that her Servant had survived. And she could pretend that she was strong enough to do this.

She threw out her hand. Instantly she held out one of her 5 remaining jewels, and chanted the incantation to her spell.

"**Neun, Acht, Sieben!****  
><strong>**Stil, schießt**** Beschießen****, Erschie Ssung**!"

Years of saved up prana detonated. The jewel exploded, carrying with it hundreds of units of prana, enough to destroy a large house! It coalesced into three gleaming icicles, each rocketing towards the screaming Berserker. It would be enough. It would kill him for sure.

But Berserker still had a spark of intelligence left in that mind. Even he had recognized the danger of that spell, and so he moved back and prepared to dodge it. After all, it had been fired from too far away to actually hit him. So for the first time since the start of the battle, Berserker prepared to defend-.

But he was stopped. No. His movements were stopped, for a single second. How? Where?

From behind! Lancer materialized a boundary field of runes around Berserker, using every single rune he possessed. It wouldn't be able to stop the beast for more than a second, but that second would be enough! The shield of runes held, blocking any hope of escape.

The spears of ice collided with Berserker's arms. They pierced flesh, tearing apart muscle and bone at the same time. It would kill him for sure!

But Berserker was a powerful opponent. He crossed his ruined arms in front of his chest, blocking the third and last ice spear. It shattered and refroze his arms, further ruining them, but he had survived Rin's spell and lived.

Of course, that had been part of the plan as well.

"Saber!"

Rin dashed forward, against all logic, to pursue the wounded giant. As if staring into the eyes of death, fear almost overwhelmed her body as the wounded warrior's eyes stared into her own. They promised death, painful, disgusting, and bloody death.

But the familiar presence in front of her was enough to push away that fear. Saber ran before her, like a shield against that infernal pressure. As long as Rin had her she could face that monster.

With a simple slash Saber pushed away Berserker's frozen arms, leaving the monster's chest undefended. His legs sealed by runes, and his arms sealed by ice, the only thing the monster could do was roar.

And Rin jumped over the crumbling ground, straight up, laying a single hand on Berserker's chest, over his heart. Clutched between her fingers... were her four remaining jewels. "Heh, I knew you'd do that." She smirked. It had all gone according to plan. "Got you."

"Take this!" She screamed as she simultaneously discharged 4 A rank spells directly into Berserker's heart. The bullets of light penetrated his chest instantly. The point blank attack directly into his weakest point had been perfect.

Berserker died as half of his chest was blown off. His heart had been instantly incinerated along with the blast.

The blood splattered all over Rin, and Lancer standing behind. Berserker's bodily fluids sprayed wildly from the unnatural hole in his body. Most would have called that overkill, but for a monster like Berserker it had been completely necessary.

Tohsaka smiled. Her plan had been perfect. As proof, Berserker lay before her, dead. The battle had been won, not by a Servant, but by an ordinary magus-

No. It was not over.

Even once he had been killed, Berserker wouldn't die. The spark of life returned to his eyes even as his blood fell to the ground. His arms moved, and the ice shattered. Rin blinked in shock. She hadn't expected him to be able to move in that condition. No, he shouldn't have been able to move. Berserker should have died instantly once more as soon as he regained his life.

But that didn't happen. The hole in his chest began to close, and his heart built itself up from the surrounding tissues. Rin finally realized her position and chose to flee back to relative safety, but it was already too late. The axe sword still clutched in Berserker's torn apart hand moved with blinding speed to crush the now defenceless school girl.

Rin saw it in almost slow motion, as it approached her eyes. Almost clinically her mind told her the likely effects of it striking her head.

First, the shock would travel through her brain, instantly tearing it apart from the inside. The trauma could very well kill her right there and then, if she was lucky.

Second, the axe sword would instantly crush her skull, causing massive internal bleeding, and furthering the already massive brain trauma.

Third, the sword would pass through her head, tearing through and undoubtedly obliterating it.

And all of this would undoubtedly occur in a less than a second.

She closed her eyes.

And blood flew through the air as the axe sword struck.

She opened her eyes. That was the first sign that something had gone wrong. If she had been hit, then she wouldn't have had any eyes to open. The second thing she saw was blue and silver. Specifically, blue and silver armour, full of cracks and tears.

"Rin." Saber choked out the sentence. "Go." Her hands were shaking with the effort of holding back the strike. Rin wasn't able to see it, but the entire front portion Saber's armour had shattered from Berserker's blow, and the axe sword had already penetrated Saber's rib cage. Her trembling hands were the only things preventing the sword from going even deeper.

"Saber!" Rin fell backwards numbly. This wasn't a part of the plan. The spell should have held. Berserker shouldn't have been able to break out.

But he had, and the result Rin saw was someone dying to protect her. Again.

She ran away from Berserker, but the bleeding form of the young swordswoman stayed burnt into her memory along with Archer's smirk. Was this all her fault? Two Servants taking wounds they shouldn't have had to because of her negligence. It wasn't right. It wasn't-

"Rin!" She heard Saber's voice once more. She was still holding back the axe sword, but there was no more pain on her face. Instead, she smiled. "Do it!" She called out with the last of her strength, before Berserker's strength blew her across the courtyard.

Rin nodded shakily. In a weak voice she yelled out the signal for the next part of the plan.

"Lancer! It's your turn!"

Behind the raging monstrosity that was Berserker, Lancer grinned. "Took you long enough!" He shot back, and as he did so, he jumped into the air, aiming to land directly on Berserker.

But the raging giant was still aware. He spun, and like a hurricane unleashed a terrifying blow aiming to slice the weary Lancer in two!

"Not a chance!" Lancer blocked at an angle with Gae Bolg, and instead of being slashed apart it merely flipped him over in the air. His feet landed, directly on the outstretched arm of Berserker.

"Now die already!" He roared. Lancer raised his spear, and poured all of his power into his legs to propel himself directly at the giant's heart. As he did so he adjusted the aim on Gae Bolg. He spotted the still healing chest wound. It was closing, faster and faster as Berserker poured prana into repairing his impenetrable skin.

But it wasn't fast enough.

"**Gae Bolg!**"

While his trusty spear couldn't normally find a way around Berserker's skin, now, with it still pulling itself back together, Gae Bolg would surely find a hole! It would definitely take the tiny possibility of victory amidst the large chance of defeat and turn it into a certain win!

The crimson lance twisted, moving at impossible angles, dodging around a hastily raised hand, and plunged once more into Berserker's heart, piercing straight through the giant.

"!" The giant's roar was cut short once more as his heart was torn apart. Thousands of thorns twisted through the giant's body, completely killing him once. If Caster's words were to be believed, then this was the 5th time Berserker had been killed.

It wouldn't be the last.

Once again, the light returned to those dead eyes.

In the ruined temple, another battle still hadn't ended. A battle between a student and his teacher.

Emiya Shirou swung three times in the blink of an eye, each strike aiming to kill. The speed and fluidity of his actions had gone up ever since he'd traced Monohoshizao, and he had managed to hold his own against Kuzuki Souchirou because of it.

Kuzuki did not carry a weapon, so he merely avoided two of the slashed by skipping back, and the third one by charging forward, directly under it. He swung out with a hand, aiming for Shirou's face.

Shirou raised his other hand to block the strike, but like a snake Kuzuki's hands twisted, curving around the guard and aiming for the back of Shirou's neck instead. A hit there would mean an instant kill.

But Shirou had acquired some new skills as well. He swept his guarding hand outwards, knocking away the blow and leaving Kuzuki open to attack. Instantly he swung his sword inwards, aiming to cut the man in half.

But Kuzuki stopped the speeding weapon with his elbow and arm, parrying it temporarily. He rolled forward, and upon entering Shirou's space, unleashed a vicious right hook that caught the boy in cheek and sent him tumbling backwards. He felt his already abused neck crack and pop under the strain. Anymore and he'd be left a cripple, even with reinforcement bolstering his body beyond the human norm.

But Kuzuki was skilled indeed. To be able to fight a swordsman with no weapons alone he must have taken years of training. It is a fact that in any battle the one using a weapon will undoubtedly have an advantage over someone not using one, and even with training this is a rule that is not often broken.

For an ordinary human to be winning against a mage using the abilities and experience of a Heroic Spirit would in most circumstances be impossible. But Kuzuki Souchirou was a man capable of doing so.

As Shirou stumbled backwards and tried to get his bearings, Kuzuki followed up with a devastating straight, directly aimed towards the boy's throat. But Shirou managed to twist away and it only clipped his chest. The blow still sent shocks throughout his body, but Shirou had made it out alive.

This time.

_Am I going to lose again? _Shirou frantically tried to think of any way he could get out of this situation. For the last few exchanges Kuzuki had been dominating, and Shirou hadn't even managed to strike once._ He's like a bird, or a snake. Every time I try to corner him he simple slips away again._

_So maybe I should cut that bird down._

_Cut it down? I'd need to strike from three different directions to do that, though..._

Lost in thought, Shirou didn't notice Kuzuki charging once more until it was too late. The teacher threw a punch, sending his fist sailing straight for Shirou. This time he put his entire body into the blow. This fist contained the power to break people, and swords along with them. Shirou could not block it.

With interest, Shirou watched the attack head straight for his face. In slow motion, it approached and promised certain death. Would he be able to slice it down? Would he be able to win?

_Ilya..._

Of course he would!

Shirou twisted his entire body, rotating to the side, turning his back to Kuzuki, and for the first time in this battle, entering a stance. He raised Monohoshizao into the air, parallel to the ground. He could see the man's attack heading for his eyes, but it didn't matter anymore.

"**Hiken:**"

Kuzuki froze. His attack stopped, and reversed before it reached Shirou. Instantly all of the martial artist's instincts were screaming at him to get away. To retreat before Shirou could finish that technique. Kuzuki obeyed, forcing his legs to push him backward, out of the sword's range.

But Monohoshizao had already trapped him. With a blade of 150cm and Kuzuki so close, he would not be able to run. He had already been caught in Shirou's trap the second the boy had taken that stance.

Shirou opened his eyes. He felt the unnatural calm settle over him, and the weapon's memories take over his mind. They were muddled. He couldn't remember his name, his age, his appearance, or indeed, anything about his identity.

But one memory remained in that blur. He saw a bird. It flew free in the sky and no one could catch it. All he had was a sword. So he tried to cut it down. But he couldn't. He tried again and again, and the swallow flew away each time. It was impossible to accomplish the task of killing such a creature with an ordinary sword.

But he tried to do so anyway. And by cutting that bird down he created a prison, a technique, a killing magic that would imprison the enemy with three instantaneous slashes.

"**Tsubame Gaeshi.**"

Three swords swung to kill.

And Kuzuki Souchirou fell to the ground, defeated by his student. His body had been cleaved three times. One of his arms and one of his legs had been chopped off, one of his lungs and his ribcage had been split open, and the final slash had ripped through his stomach, scattering the man's organs all over the floor.

Despite that, a drop of life remained in Kuzuki Souchirou's broken body. He lay on his back, dying, but he raised a single arm to the shining moon, and made as if to grasp it.

And finally, with his last breath he whispered. "...Caster..."

Thus, the final breath of life fled from Kuzuki Souchirou's body. The only witness had been Emiya Shirou, the man who had ended his teacher's life. The boy dropped his sword, and it immediately faded away in a burst of prana.

He looked sadly down at the body of his teacher.

"...Thanks for the lesson, Sensei. I'll never forget it."

And in the temple, a similar battle had ended.

Berserker's screams split the air. Instead of rage, however, they were of pain. Though his insane mind could not comprehend the pain it did know the cause.

That spear. That crimson toothpick. That damned irritating itch. That weapon lodged in his body that kept tearing apart his heart.

Gae Bolg still stood impaled in Berserker's heart. For the last few minutes it had stayed there, while Berserker tried his best to yank it out.

But it wouldn't leave. Somehow it had attached itself to Berserker's chest, and no matter how much he pulled or smashed or raged he couldn't remove it from his chest. The initial wound had already healed, and with it God Hand, but even so he could not expel that weapon. He screamed and grabbed onto the spear with both hands, dropping the axe sword, and pulled with all of his might, but even then his monstrous strength couldn't budge it.

So the spear kept tearing and piercing his heart, but Berserker didn't die even then. His regenerative abilities were so powerful that he could stay alive even with his heart pierced, and they insured that he wouldn't die even with it destroyed.

But it wouldn't heal, and Berserker screamed as the endless pain continued.

At the other end of the courtyard lay Saber, somehow still alive but continuously burning through all of her prana to heal her deep wound. RIn was helping her as much as she could, leaving the job of finishing Berserker to Lancer.

He stood near the rampaging Berserker, frowning.

"This is..." He pondered the question. Realistically there were many possible answers but it was important for him to arrive at the correct one. Now he just had to justify it. "...My kill, right?"

Berserker screamed.

Lancer frowned. "Oh shut up!" He dashed through the giant's flailing arms and tapped his spear with a single finger. Upon inserting a tiny bit of prana into the spear he called out its true name.

"**Gae Bolg.**"

Berserker stiffened as the thorns of death spread throughout his body and killed him again. This would be the sixth time. If Caster was to be believed Berserker would have to die six more times.

Lancer continued to think. "I did get help from those other two..."

Berserker twitched as his life returned abruptly. He raised his hands to squash Lancer like a bug-

"**Gae Bolg.**"

The giant fell silent once more as he died for the seventh time.

"...but I got most of the work done. I did kill him more while that girl only killed him once. And Caster did the same three times, I think..."

A hand twitched-

"**Gae Bolg.**"

Berserker died for the eighth time.

"Oh, but it was my Noble Phantasm that did the job, and my runes that held this spear in place. And I am the one who's finishing him off."

The eye opened-

"**Gae Bolg.**"

Ninth death, three more to go.

Lancer momentarily felt a slight pity for Berserker. He'd have hated to have to die 12 times when defeated. Dying once had already been painful enough, especially when it had been so drawn out.

Berserker's chest rose-

"**Gae Bolg.**"

Ten down, two to go. Damn, this was boring.

"Hey ladies, how are you doing back there?" Lancer called out to Rin and Saber, who had settled themselves a short distance away behind some rubble from the temple's collapse.

"Saber's wound seems to have healed, but she's dangerously low on prana." Came Rin's reply. "Since her contract wasn't formed properly with Emiya-kun she hasn't been getting enough, and now she won't even be able to fight with this level of prana, much less use her Noble Phantasm."

Lancer frowned.

"**Gae Bolg.**"

11 down, only one more time to go. It was good that Berserker only possessed 12 lives; otherwise Lancer wouldn't have had enough prana to use Gae Bolg all those times.

"Can't you fix that somehow?" He asked. "I really want to fight Saber when she's at full power. If it's like this then I won't even be able to enjoy the fight." Shame too, he'd really been looking forward to it.

"Oh right, **Gae Bolg.**"

And with that the last of Lancer's prana went into Berserker, destroying the beast for the final time, and ending the Servant's life once and for all.

And outside of the temple, in the forest, another showdown entered its final phase.

"Stay still damn you!" Caster rained beams upon every tree she could find. Already most of the side of the mountain resembled a war torn battlefield. It was only thanks to the mild boundary field she had put up as an afterthought that the authorities hadn't noticed the wanton destruction of that night.

But the battle had tired Caster. Though she possessed almost unlimited prana, the strain of casting nonstop was starting to take its toll. She panted, struggling for each breath, but still keeping up the rapid fire barrage of destruction.

"You..." She groaned. The few burns she'd received from the explosion earlier had already healed, but her cloak was tattered and barely holding together. "You should have been Assassin for all the hiding you're doing!" She screamed with another burst of anger.

Finally, she stopped. Though she could sense Archer's presence, he was undoubtedly wounded beyond belief. There was no way he could have survived her barrage again in that condition.

But again, he had definitely lived.

"_**Have withstood pain to create many weapons.**_"

His voice this time came from almost every direction at once. Where could that cockroach be this time?

Caster spread out her senses, searching for Archer's presence. Immediately she found him. She turned in mid air, and strained her eyes. There, hundreds of meters away stood Archer, standing confidently on top of one of the largest surviving trees. His distinctive red wear had somehow repaired itself, but new wounds had appeared. His arms and body were severely burnt, and one of his eyes was closed and bleeding profusely.

His hands were empty.

Caster smiled. "So you have decided to surrender? Very well then, I shall make your death quick!" She held out her hand, and immediately materialized a dozen multicoloured orbs of light. With a snap of her fingers and a muttered word, they shot towards Archer at maximum speed!

The bowman merely cracked a tired grin.

"_**Yet, these hands will never hold anything.**_"

Two swords instantly materialized in Archer's hands.

The orbs shot towards him at hundreds of miles per hour, but somehow he struck each one with his weapons and deflected all twelve effortlessly. No, it had been too easy.

Caster frowned. "Fine, try stopping this!" She gathered more prana, packing it into an explosive ball of magic that would violently detonate upon contact with any object. She threw it, slightly slower than the others, but with greater power.

Archer narrowed his eyes as if analyzing the spell. This time instead of allowing it to reach melee range, Archer wound up, and threw both of his swords at the explosive ball!

They curved beautifully in an arc, and came together, striking the ball at the same time. The resulting explosion was huge and engulfed dozens of square meters of forest, but it had occurred far enough from Archer that he had taken no damage at all.

His smirk grew wider, even more condescending.

Caster growled. "Fine then! I shall end this with my most powerful attack!" She brought both of her hands together, and concentrated all of her available prana into it. She would use her most destructive direct blasting spell to destroy Archer!

"**κα..."**

A glowing blue ball appeared between her hands. It shone tiny but powerful. But this was only the beginning.

"**με..."**

The ball began to grow. In moments it had reached the size of a soccer ball, and the shine emanating from it was blinding.

"**ηα..."**

It reached the limits of Caster's hands, and she had to struggle to keep it from overwhelming her. With difficulty she pushed the energy back into its compact form.

"**με..."**

She had to squint just to keep from being blinded. The spell had reached maximum capacity, and she could barely keep the massive amounts of prana within the orb from bursting out and vaporising her. But still, she would succeed. The spell had been completed, now all that remained was to end it!

"**ηα!"**

She released it. Caster brought her hands forward and finished the incantation for the spell of absolute destruction. The ball or energy, immediately seeking release, became a beam of prana heading directly for Archer. It's power was enough to blow a hole straight through Mt Enzou and out the other side, and no pathetic shield Archer could put up would stand even a ghost of a chance against it's awesome fury.

But the bowman had been preparing as well.

In his hands was his trusty bow, and on that bow sat an arrow.

No, a sword.

The sword carried a unique spiral blade, unsuited for direct combat but perfectly created for the purpose of being used as an arrow. Archer concentrated the last of his prana supply into the arrow, pumping it full of energy, beyond it normal limits. The sword cracked and splintered from the strain, but held.

Archer gazed into the blue beam of death heading his way, and released the sword with a single word.

"**The Fake Spiral Sword: Caladbolg!**"

Instantly, the two opposing attacks met.

Only for both of them to continue unhindered.

Caladbolg was a sword that twisted space itself to reach its target by piercing all barriers in its way. By contrast, Caster's spell was one of pure destruction by focusing deadly amounts of prana into a single point, meant to instantly vaporise anyone it struck. The two attacks were totally different, yet exactly the same.

Both aimed to kill.

And Caladbolg twisted, tearing straight through Caster's unbeatable attack, passing up the beam of prana and straight into Caster's side. It had been slightly deflected by the attack, however, and so instead of instantly killing Caster as it had originally been intended to do, it incinerated her entire left side instead.

She choked, and her scream died out instantly due to the lack of lungs to support it. Her attack continued on for another second before finally ending and leaving a giant crater deep under Mt Enzou. The dark hole showed no signs of life, but in her dazed and dying state Caster thought for a moment that she could sense a dark prana coming from inside.

Her levitation spell failed.

Caster dropped hundreds of feet to thud painfully against the scorched ground. As she lay dying in the dirt, she unconsciously raised her remaining hand to the sky. She idly noted the moon, and for a silly moment felt the urge to grab it in her hands. But she couldn't. No, she was already dying.

A tear slipped down Caster's cheek. She didn't want to die again. She didn't want to return to the throne. She didn't want to be forced to fight again and again for someone's entertainment and people's selfish wishes.

She only wanted...

"I only wanted you... Souchirou-sama..." She whispered, and as her dying wish echoed into the sky, Caster quietly faded from existence, leaving behind only a single tear.

Nothing moved.

No sounds could be heard.

Save a single grunting noise.

Archer's hand burst from the soil at the base of the crater, followed shortly by another hand, and finally his body. He pushed himself from the ground, and coughed the dirt and blood out of his lungs. Shakily he stood, even as his body slowly started to fail from all of the damage he had incurred.

As his sharp eyes wandered over the scenery, they caught on to a single drop of water in the lifeless desert the side of the mountain had become. Curious. How could any water have survived the fighting?

But he shook his head. It didn't matter. Caster was dead, that much he could tell, and his job had been accomplished. Save for one last thing he needed to do.

"_**So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works.**_"

Nothing appeared. He had no prana left to manifest his ultimate technique. But still, he felt the urge to finish this battle, and that could only have been done by ending the song of his life.

Archer sighed, turned his back to the dead land, and started to make his way back to the temple.


	16. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 14: Returning Home<p>

"So are you finished with Saber yet?" Lancer called out to Rin. At the moment he was sitting on a piece of rubble, bored out of his mind. Berserker had disappeared minutes ago, and he had heard no other noises since.

"Just shut up Lancer!" Came Rin's reply. She seemed to be angry for a reason Lancer couldn't even fathom. "This is a serious wound even for a Servant! I'm not a miracle worker! Why don't you see how Emiya-kun is doing? Make sure that idiot hasn't gone and killed himself trying to save that little girl!"

Lancer sighed. That had been the most boring way to end a battle he'd even been a part of, and he'd seen and been part of some weird fights in his time. He stood up shakily, still a bit low on prana but otherwise unhurt, and made his way around the rubble of the temple entrance. Eventually Shirou came into view, with what appeared to be an ordinary Japanese businessman dressed in a suit lying at his feet.

"Oy, you still alive kid?" Lancer asked him. Shirou's head shot up, and he blinked in confusion before realizing that it was a friendly and not another enemy. "I'm assuming you won, since this guy's pretty much toast."

"Yeah, I... won." Shirou grimaced. He looked at the bloodstained sword in his hands and threw it away in disgust. "I... killed him." He stared mournfully at the dead man. "I just killed a human being." He gulped.

Lancer snickered. "What? Are you feeling all sad just 'cus you killed a man? Relax, you won't even care after the next few kills you get." It had never been too hard for him, of course. In fact, Lancer couldn't even remember the first person he'd killed.

"I'm not planning on making this a job!" Shirou yelled. "I... knew this man. He was my teacher, from school! He taught me... and I knew him for years... and now..." He gulped. He looked at the man's body. Three bloody gashes had been torn through Kuzuki Souchirou, and his organs had been splattered all over the ground. No human could survive that kind of wound.

"Psh, doesn't matter. He was your enemy, and you killed him." Lancer inspected the body. "Ooh! Nice job by the way, kid. Three slashes? Did you do them all at once or something?" In fact, the pattern of the cuts looked very familiar. As Lancer looked at the wounds his chest and stomach ached slightly where he had been cut by Assassin in his earlier fight.

Shirou nodded. "It's like... I saw myself trying to cut this bird down... and I tried again and again to hit three times, and all of a sudden I could slash three times by only swinging my sword once." He looked at the sword lying on the ground. "It was as if someone possessed my body..." The sword began to glow, and slowly broke apart into golden lights that faded from sight.

Lancer spotted the exact same sword on the ground a few feet from the two. But this one had been snapped in half. "Huh. I think I just realized something..."

"What?" Shirou asked morosely.

"Weren't you trying to save someone?" Lancer remembered seeing that little girl earlier, so where had she gone now?

"Ah!" Shirou perked up immediately. "Ilya! I hope she's okay..." He ran over to a flat chunk of rubble nearby, and pulled it aside, revealing the body of Berserker's former Master spread out limply over the ground.

"Ilya!" He instantly knelt down and scooped up the tiny girl into his arms. He stood easily; she weighed very little. "I have to take her to Tohsaka to see if she's alive!"

Lancer just snickered at the sight. "Relax kid, the girl's fine. I can sense her body practically bursting with prana. It's as if she's one big Magic Circuit. But more interesting is..." He looked over the image of Shirou holding the girl up. "Do you realize what you look like?"

"Huh?" Shirou looked down at the unconscious girl and blushed instantly. "W-what the heck is she wearing?" The girl had been clad in a pure white dress that seemed fit for a wedding. Her hair had been tied up, and her pale face bore marks of makeup. All in all, she seemed ethereal, almost otherworldly in her beauty.

Oh, and she still looked like a very, very young girl.

Lancer chuckled. "I guess Caster must have some really kinky tastes. But to dress up a child like that... how bold of her!"

"T-This isn't funny!" Shirou sputtered, and tightened his hold on Ilya's chest. "Why isn't she waking up?" He muttered. Truly, the girl hadn't even stirred or moved at all, yet she showed no sign of injury.

Lancer shrugged. "Magic? Caster probably put her to sleep. If she doesn't wake up on her own we can get Rin to take care of it." Truthfully the girl didn't really concern Lancer, he just wanted to get back to the house and make sure nothing had happened to Sakura during his absence.

"Don't talk about Tohsaka like that." Shirou replied, but it was half hearted. He had momentarily been entranced by the girl in his arms, and though he didn't know it his hold around her became less one of panic and tenderer, as if he was holding a newborn child. "It's weird." He spoke softly. "She called me Onii-chan the first time we met, as if she already knew me. But my entire family is dead. Kiritsugu only adopted me. But why... do I feel as if I should know her?"

"She could be a relative of your dad's." Lancer suggested. "Did he ever mention a family other than you?"

"No, but occasionally he'd go off to Germany for months on end, and every time he returned he'd seem more unhappy." Shirou tried to recall his father ever mentioning relatives. "Otherwise, he never talked about blood family at all. Not even to me. But still, she even called me Onii-chan..."

"Hm... Y'know, I had a kid." Lancer finally said.

Shirou looked at him with surprise etched all over his face. "You? Of all people?"

Lancer frowned. "Yeah, well I never said I was any good at being a parent. See, there was this girl, Aife. She was my old teacher's old rival. Well, while I was still young and foolish and training with Scathach, Aife comes along and challenges her to a battle. Now, I, being a young and strapping lad, wouldn't want to miss a chance for a good fight, but that devil woman Scathach gave me a damn sleeping potion so I wouldn't challenge Aife. She actually thought I'd lose, too!"

"Um... what does this have to do with your son?" Shirou asked. He was slightly perplexed as to why Lancer had all of a sudden decided to reminisce about his childhood.

"I'm getting to that part! Now, as I was saying, I got put to sleep before I could challenge Aife. Of course, they weren't really making the sleeping potion for a part god, so it only kept me down for about an hour, and I got up and challenged Aife to single combat. Or she challenged me. Can't really remember." Lancer scratched his head. "Anyway, we start fighting, and she's just... beautiful. She was graceful and powerful and everything I liked in a woman. Oh, and she trashed me."

"Wait, you lost?" Shirou grinned. "So do you have a history of losing to women considering how Saber had you at her mercy the first time you fought?"

"Shut it kid. First, I never lost to Saber, I just retreated. There's a difference. And second, I didn't lose to Aife! Hell, I've never lost a fight in my life!" He proudly boasted. Shirou just raised an eyebrow. "At least, I never lost a straight battle. And I totally could've beaten Assassin."

"Your guts were hanging out."

"I could've won!" Lancer retorted. But he just sighed, and returned to the story. "The point is, she was strong and beautiful. And I was young. Didn't even have Gae Bolg back then and had to fight with a crappy old sword that shattered after a few blows. Of course I won anyway, even if I did... bend the rules a bit."

"You cheated, didn't you?"

"I didn't cheat! Telling your opponent that their favourite chariot is falling off a cliff is a perfectly good strategy! It's her fault for falling for it!"

"Seriously? That's how you won?"

"I never said she was smart, just strong and pretty. Anyway, she begged for her life, and I let her live on the condition that she bear me a son. There might've been some other stuff, but that was the most important part."

"So you won and then you raped her? That's just horrible!"

"It wasn't rape! She agreed to it! Besides, I should've killed her and I didn't. She owed me her life. So we spent the night together –she was pretty good for a virgin- and I left her pregnant, on the condition that she send her son to me when he's old enough, and name him Connla."

"So you impregnated her then just walked out? I think I can tell just how bad of a father you were just from those words."

"That doesn't matter. Point is I was getting a son. Now, eight years later this kid comes up to my house and challenges this other warrior, Conall. So he fights and easily disarms Conall. So I decided to fight him next. I asked the kid his name but he wouldn't tell me, so we continued on. Now this kid was probably the toughest opponent I'd ever had before. He was fast, smart, and fought more ferociously than I did. In the end, I used Gae Bolg for the first time." Lancer patted his trusty spear, but the grin had already faded from his face.

He sighed, looked at the crimson lance for a moment, and then continued. "So, I stabbed him in the heart. And as he lay dying he told me his name: Connla."

Shirou was about to quip about Lancer almost losing to an eight year old, but no words came from his mouth. Finally, he spoke. "You... killed your own son?"

"Yep. It was probably the biggest mistake I ever made other than that damned promise about dog meat and women. And the sad thing was I never even realized it until it was too late." Lancer stared into Shirou's face. "So don't make the same mistake. I felt as if I knew him but I ignored that feeling, and look what it got me! If you feel like you know this girl you better protect her! And don't make the same mistake that I did. Know what you're fighting for, and who it is you're really trying to defeat. "

"Lancer..." Shirou couldn't think of anything to say.

"That's all I have to say. Now let's go talk to that devil girl and Saber. And don't mention this to anyone!" With that said Lancer rose from his sitting position and marched stiffly away from Shirou. The boy followed at an easier pace. Even as Lancer struggled to walk properly due to his immense prana loss Shirou's wounds had already begun to heal.

Silently the strange duo picked their way through the temple ruins, one leaning on his crimson spear for support and another carrying a frail girl as if she was a fairy tale princess. Shortly they reached the temple entrance, where Rin knelt on the ground with her hands hovering over the stilled Saber's chest. Some blood could be seen, but there was no wound visible through the gash in her chest armour.

Tohsaka Rin looked up at the two men who had just arrived. "Took you long enough. I was beginning to think that you would actually lose, Emiya-kun." The soft glow around her hands faded, and she got to her feet slowly. But it was plain that she was tired as well. Her clothes were torn and dusty, with thankfully no blood to signify a wound, and at some point her signature pigtails had come undone. "I'm all spent." She sighed, as if all of her worldly possessions had just been destroyed. "I wasted 10 perfectly good jewels today. That was almost all of them..." She stared forlornly at the ground, where she could still see shards of crystal glittering like stars in the sky.

"Well, you're alive, and that's what matters." Shirou tried to smile, but even his weak attempt failed completely as he noticed Saber. "Rin! What happened? Is she okay?" He panicked, and for a moment seemed to consider rushing to hold the wounded swordswoman before he remembered the girl already in his arms.

Rin shook her head. "I did my best, but even though her wound is healed, she has barely any prana left. She used up all of it healing that wound from Berserker." She glanced at Shirou, and at Ilya in his arms. "Looks like you saved your princess. Congratulations." Then back to Lancer. "And don't try to fool me. You're in the same condition as Saber after using that Noble Phantasm of yours seven times in a row. You are still receiving prana though, so it's not too bad compared to her, but there won't be any fighting for either of you for a few days." She put up her strongest glare towards the spearman in blue.

He threw up his hands. "Fine! I'll sit tight until I recover! Jeez, you're like Scathach all over again!"

"Oh, and since prince charming over there has his hands full with the princess..." Rin smirked and pointed a single finger in the unconscious blonde's direction. "You get to carry Saber on the way back, Lancer."

He groaned. "I don't get a choice in the matter?"

"Nope."

"Didn't think so." Lancer sighed and released Gae Bolg, allowing it to disappear and free his hands. Then he knelt down next to Saber. Looking at her like that, she seemed delicate and weak, something to be protected rather than fought. As he scooped her up in his arms her cracked and broken armour faded into light, leaving her in ordinary clothes. "She's pretty light." He remarked. Like this she could have been an ordinary teenage girl instead of an experienced warrior.

Shirou gave Lancer his best glare. "Don't you dare let anything happen to Saber while we're returning." He tried to sound threatening, but to Lancer he simply seemed like a dog with no bite and too much bark for his own good.

But Lancer still nodded. "Relax kid, I won't be killing her until our rematch, I promised. Besides, I'm in no condition to fight either." He looked at the horizon, where the faintest traces of light had begun to break through the night. Day would be arriving soon. "So shouldn't we be getting back to your house?" He was worried about Sakura. Who knows what could have happened while they had been gone.

Shirou nodded. "Rin, you should come too. It's better to stay together for now." He looked towards the Tohsaka heiress, and she put on a thoughtful expression as if weighing her options.

"Well... I guess I should make sure you don't accidentally kill yourself." She finally decided. With a sharp nod she turned to Shirou and smirked, although it didn't reach her eyes. "It seems I'll be your guest then, Emiya-kun." Her voice cracked at the end, but Shirou didn't notice, although Lancer did. Whatever Rin's problems were, she was definitely unwilling to discuss them. Still, with that said she turned and walked briskly past the ruined gate and down the mountain.

Shirou blinked and then a weak smile crossed his face again as he ran as fast as his cargo would allow to catch up. "I think my house is turning into an inn." He remarked while trying to find a path down the cracked and blackened staircase. "I already have Sakura and Lancer, and now Tohsaka and Ilya..."

Lancer chuckled behind him as he easily balanced Saber in his arms and hopped nimbly down the broken steps. "Maybe you should be an innkeeper, kid. Who knows who'll end up staying next!"

"Not funny." Shirou lightly hopped down a drop of about a foot, being careful not to let Ilya fall. As they descended the destruction lessened and the craters and burns were left behind. The burnt and broken trees on either side showed greener, and the horrible events of the battle began to feel like a simple dream. "I actually want to be a Hero, not some hotel owner!"

"Bah, you have no sense of humour kid." Shirou was probably just stressed out from the fight. Lancer nimbly caught up to the boy and dashed past him.

Quite a way ahead he made out Rin, who looked tired and weary. Curious, he decided to go ahead. He focused some of his remaining prana into his legs, and dashed down the mountain, leaving Shirou behind. "How are you holding up?" He asked her.

"Fine." She didn't take her eyes off the stairs. "I lost Archer." She spoke evenly and with no emotion. Her face remained blank. "He died against Caster."

Lancer didn't even stagger at the news. "So the bastard bit the dust? That's a shame; I wanted to get a chance to fight him without holding back again." He frowned. "This is a problem, though. I was planning on fighting him after Caster, but now the only Servants left other than me are Saber and that sandworm True Assassin, and it'll be tough finding the guy..."

"Of course." Rin didn't show a reaction.

Lancer sighed. Although it was a little known fact about him, Lancer despised seeing a woman sad. "Are you sure he's even dead?" Lancer suggested. He didn't really believe it himself, but it might have been able to cheer Rin up at least. "I mean, someone must have killed Caster otherwise she'd be after us already!" Logic. Maybe this would work. Not that it had ever done anything for him.

"I felt the command spells fade from his end. He can't be alive." Rin countered. "It doesn't matter anyway." She continued. "It's his fault for dying." No emotion. Her voice was dryer than a desert.

"You don't really believe that." Lancer started. "He was your Servant-"

"And I failed as a Master! He wasn't supposed to die!" Rin screamed, stopping in place and instantly whirling to face Lancer. Her face contorted into a visage of fury that reminded him of his childhood and how Scathach would scold him during training. "He said he was the strongest! My Servant! The strongest Servant and the best Master, the ultimate team! And then he goes and dies to that bitch Caster!" She glared murderously. "No goodbye, no warning, he just fails and lets her beat him! Why? We were supposed to be partners and he just suddenly goes and gets himself killed like that! And... It's definitely... my fault!" Tears appeared at the corners of her eyes but she didn't even seem to notice, simply stepping closer and closer to the frozen spearman.

"Listen, girl, I understand what you're thinking now-"

"What do you know?" She spat. "I bet you hate your Master, considering how you haven't even mentioned him! Or maybe you just don't care about anyone other than yourself and your stupid pride!" Logically he should've been scared or angered, but all Lancer could do in the face of that verbal assault was stand there and take it. Rin continued, but her tirade had already run out of steam.

"And he..." She fell to her knees. "He didn't even... say goodbye. I didn't even get to see him go. The last time we spoke face to face was days ago, and he didn't even complain once since then!" She sniffed. "This is... stupid..." Rin pounded the stairs with a reinforced fist and the steps under her hand shattered like vintage china. "If only I got the chance... to say goodbye..."

"Girl..." Lancer groaned silently. What was it with emotional women these days? He'd pegged Rin for a stable one, but as soon as she lost her boy toy she turned into a wreck. Honestly, just because she lost someone didn't mean she could-

_The puddle of blood spread. He could only stare in shock as his Master slowly died from blood loss in front of his very eyes. Her arm wasn't there. It was in the hands of Kotomine Kirei, that priest. And the damn bastard laughed. He laughed at Lancer's crushing despair, even as Bazett's command seals disappeared and reappeared onto the priest's own hands. Lancer could only scream. Whether it was in anger, or pain, even he didn't know._

...

"Girl. Pull yourself together." Lancer didn't move. "C'mon, you can cry once we get home, but right now you have people relying on you to get them to safety. You can't be collapsing like this."

"..."

"Oy, aren't you supposed to be the smart one? Look at me. Because of your quick thinking Saber is still alive, and right here in front of you. Are you going to collapse and let everyone down just because one person died? Weren't you supposed to have accepted that people die as a magus and Master?"

"...heh." Rin shakily stood up, and looked Lancer in the face once again. Neither blinked.

"Listen girl, you have to believe in the you that believes in yourself-"

_Slap!_

"OW!" Lancer recoiled from the powerful blow. He growled and prepared to retaliate, but he couldn't let go of the still unconscious Saber, and had his hands full. So he settled for glaring at Rin with all of the force he could muster at the moment. "What was that for!"

She smirked. "Don't call me girl. And don't think you're some kind of inspiring figure that can lift my depression and rescue me from my sadness, either!" She brushed her tangled and messy hair back into her twin pigtails, and secured it with ribbons. "A mutt like you should just stay quiet and leave us intelligent people to deal with our own problems." She touched her dirty clothes, and instantly all of the grime and dust fell off, leaving her looking as proud and confident as ever.

"I don't need Archer, and I definitely don't need someone like you to cheer me up!" She proclaimed loudly, while Lancer pouted at being interrupted.

"Tch, that's the last time I try cheering you up." He muttered to himself as Rin resumed her descent, albeit at a slower pace to let Shirou catch up. She simply giggled at hearing his angry mumblings.

Lancer followed, jumping lightly down the steps but still carefully making sure Saber wasn't hurt by any sudden movements.

"Hey, wait up!" He heard the kid yelling from some way up the mountain. Rin sighed and muttered about some failure of a magus, and simply increased her speed. Lancer followed effortlessly while still carrying Saber. "Guys, seriously! I can't go as fast as you!" Shirou panted as he desperately tried to go down the steps while still carrying Ilya.

Lancer laughed. "Well then put those circuits of yours to work and catch up! A Hero has to be fast if he wants to rescue the princess in time!"

"Damnit Lancer!"

-Break-

The shadow watched.

Ever vigilant, it observed the battles in the temple, and even saw as both of them ended in spectacular upsets, with the master assassin losing to the amateur magus, and Hercules himself falling to a simple plan concocted by a teenage girl.

It saw everything, but went unnoticed by all.

And even now, when the battles had ended, the shadow still observed the tired and weak group descending down the steps. They would not be able to fight back. They were easy pickings for an assassin. But still, it would be smarter to make sure first.

It assessed their conditions.

The girl seemed tired. She had mentioned that all of her magical gems had been used up, and the shadow hadn't noticed her using any dangerous magic without them. She would be easy to kill, although she could still run if not properly handled. Tohsaka Rin was an annoyance, but utterly harmless.

The boy was heavily wounded, but in a better condition. The shadow had seen his injuries knit together and repair themselves after the battle, even if the boy himself had not noticed. And he still had prana, and would be able to summon that long blade once more. Emiya Shirou would be a small, but still very real threat.

The spearman was more dangerous. The Servant miraculously sported no wounds at all even after the heavy fighting, and seemed ready to fight. But the shadow had been listening as well as watching. The man had no prana left to spend on any runes or Noble Phantasms, and would be easy pickings from the darkness. Lancer would be the most dangerous threat, but still one that could be handled.

And the two unconscious females? Killing them would be easier than taking candy from a baby.

The shadow flowed down the mountain, staying hidden in the darkness of the rubble and trees. It dashed from one patch of ebony to the other like a cockroach, until it was close enough to the Emiya boy to smell his sweat.

Time to accomplish its objective.

Time to kill.

Time to take advantage of its stroke of luck and become the victor of the Grail War!

There, merely feet from the boy's back, the shadow revealed itself to the world, but not to its target. There would be no need to show them death when it could just as easily kill them from behind. The self styled Hero of Justice would be the first to die, as punishment for lagging behind at the back of the group. And of course, the frail homunculus would be next to go.

It reached with a single pitch black hand into a special pouch, and retrieved a tool of murder. The Dark, a knife meant not for combat, but for taking life. In a pinch it could be thrown in battle, but its true purpose would be to slide silently like a ghost through the boy's flesh and kill his heart.

True Assassin readied the Dark. It was an easy shot, but he wanted to be sure of the kill and finish it personally. So instead of throwing the knife and letting momentum drive it through Emiya Shirou's heart, it would handle the killing himself, with his own hands.

The boy took a step. One more and he would be in the perfect position to strike. Only one more step and victory would be assured!

And he took another step, past Assassin's hiding place.

It was then that the killer struck.

His hand flashed out with the speed of a bullet. It rocketed out of the shadows, reaching towards Shirou's unprotected back. In slow motion Assassin saw the blade approach closer and closer to the heart. He could taste the blood on his lips already!

_Whoosh!_

But as his hand approached so did something else! A blur shot through the air just as silently and intercepted the almost completed strike, piercing Assassin's elbow and knocking aside the hand's attempt at bringing death.

"...!" Silently he retreated into cover once more. Shirou twisted around, momentarily confused, having almost felt a killing aura for a second. However he simply shrugged and continued down the stairs at a faster pace.

Assassin, meanwhile, cursed. He felt his hand, and the projectile had passed directly into his joint, lodging itself partway through and preventing him from properly throwing or striking for a moment. He looked around, but saw no enemy. Whoever had struck at him was surely hiding and waiting for another chance to attack.

"Archer..." He hissed as he yanked the offending projectile from his hand. Unlike the slavering monster that he had been days ago this Assassin was more human, if only cosmetically. His voice had evened out into a deep growl already. "So you still lived?"

He opened his senses, and gazed into the landscape before him.

The blasted landscape held little life. Only insects and small animals had survived. He dismissed the group currently fleeing from Ryudou as the attacker. None of them possessed any ranged abilities, and although they were weak he'd have to destroy Archer before he could attack them.

There! He spotted a presence, unable to properly conceal itself due to lacking the Assassin class, partway around the mountain and barely within firing range.

Assassin glided from the shadows once more, this time stalking not prey, but an opponent. He drifted from side to side, dodging the sparse projectiles fired in his direction. Archer's position didn't move. Perhaps the bowman was too wounded to move and had simply chosen to give up? If that was the case then it would definitely have been a bad decision. Assassin was definitely not the kindest killer, and his anger at being denied Emiya Shirou had reached a peak.

Finally he broke through the sparse tree cover into a small clearing about ten feet across. Instantly three different projectiles flew towards him faster than bullets, but he simply ducked under the first two, and snatched the third out of the air an inch from his heart.

"Archer." He spoke. It wasn't a question. He could see the man across at the other end of the clearing. Though bloody and beaten, the red knight held his bow ready to fire with an arrow already on the string. "So you survived?"

"Of course." Archer replied. "It would take more than some fireworks to get rid of me." He stared intently at the shadowlike Servant in front of him. "And it will take more than you to kill someone under my protection, Assassin."

"Hah. Don't try to bluff me." True Assassin didn't react to Archer's barbs. He merely raised his hand and the projectile he had caught in it. He opened it and observed the 'arrow' Archer had fired. "Hah. Haha. Hahaha!" He laughed, a dark, rough sound like sandpaper grinding against stone. "A stick! A mere piece of wood is what you have tried to kill me with!" He tightened his shadowy fist and the straight branch shattered easily. "Have you really sunk so low as to use ordinary wood instead of actual arrows?"

Archer tried to smile, but it was strained. "It's more than enough for someone like you." He responded weakly.

Assassin may have been grinning, but Archer couldn't tell from the skull like mask covering his head. "Didn't I tell you not to try and bluff me? I'll tell you why you haven't actually fought me properly yet, and why you haven't called forth those blades of yours."

"Do... tell..." Archer said, calmly.

"You don't even have enough prana to materialize anything!" Assassin shouted. His guttural laughter echoed, but was quickly broken up by the surrounding trees. "You've had to resort to reinforcing wood simply because you can't call up any arrows using projection! And those weapons you were so fond of last time? Simply trying to create one of them would instantly cause you to disappear, wouldn't it!"

Archer stayed silent.

"You are a fool." Assassin hissed. "Had you simply stayed put like a good boy you may have survived while I killed that incompetent child. But you tried to fight me in your condition, and look what that has brought you!" He chuckled, and with a smooth movement, his hand moved to his opposite shoulder, reaching up to the knot tying his other arm into a useless club. "And now, your heart shall be mine to feed on!"

He pulled, and the bandages came off.

Crimson. That was all that an observer would initially see as Assassin's right hand. And then it unfolded. From an unwieldy lump of flesh came a hand more than two meters long, surpassing the reach of even a lance, and as red as flesh flowing blood. Outstretched it was long enough to reach across the clearing and pluck Archer's head from his shoulders.

"I was ordered to kill Emiya Shirou, but your heart shall suffice, Archer!"

That demonic hand released a palpable sensation of bloodlust. It was not an ordinary arm. No, such a thing could not normally exist on a human body at all. The arm of Shaytan, the devil, it had been grafted onto Assassin in his life, and served him as his final tool in the art of killing. It desired to kill, and so did Assassin. Thus, their wills had become one, and the condition for activating the Noble Phantasm was fulfilled. The simple but deadly curse would kill tonight.

"**Delusional Heartbeat: Zabinay-**AARRGH!"

Before he could strike and devour Archer's heart, an incredible pressure fell from all around, instantly sealing his Noble Phantasm before he could activate it and pushing True Assassin to the ground through sheer force.

"W-What!" He screamed as he felt a boundary field form around the mountain, with him still inside it! It began to drain his prana at an incredible rate, enough to completely absorb his body within five minutes! He struggled to keep his form in the incredible onslaught, and turned to look at Archer.

"Heh." That smirk had returned to Archer's face. "What was that about taking my heart, Assassin?" He sneered. "Perhaps you were the fool for not remembering one important thing about this mountain."

"What?" Assassin croaked out.

"There was originally a boundary field against Servants set up on this mountain. Any Servant caught in it will be sucked dry without exception." Archer dropped his bow, and it instantly dissolved into golden flakes of light. "It was temporarily disabled during my battle with Caster, but now that she isn't here, the mountain has asserted its authority once more." Even though the pressure must have been unbearable for Archer as well, the man stood with seemingly no difficulty. "So it seems that you've been caught right in the middle of its reactivation. Doesn't feel good, does it?"

"B-But, what about you!" Assassin screamed in pain. "This field will kill you!"

"No." Archer shook his head. "I... am already dead." The frayed edges of his red coat had already begun to break apart into shining flakes. "My spiritual core was already perforated a while ago. You've come all this way chasing a dead man, Assassin."

Assassin roared in anger. He forced his body up, and staggered towards Archer, but he couldn't move his arms to strike.

"If you're fast enough you might be able to escape the field before it kills you." Archer remarked, even as his legs disappeared from the ground up. "But you won't have enough prana to fight for some time."

If Assassin had possessed a proper face it would've been twisted in anger. "You... planned all of this! Archer!" He tried to raise his demonic arm but it wouldn't respond at all.

Archer had already disappeared up to his waist. "Better get moving before the field gets you." He said, as the smirk across his face grew even wider. "Too bad though, looks like you won't be getting my heart after all."

Assassin hissed in anger, but slunk away once more into the shadows to save his own life, leaving Archer alone in the clearing. He only had seconds left now.

"Ah, finally some peace and quiet." He smiled. "It was good while it lasted. Perhaps this time it will be different..."

He turned his head to the rising sun.

"Rin." He whispered, partly to himself, and partly to his Master. The smallest sliver of sunlight had already risen above the horizon.

"Be safe."

And so the Servant Archer finally faded from the world.

-Break-

_Knock! Knock!_

"Coming!" The door to the Emiya residence opened, revealing Sakura cheerfully dressed in an apron, smelling of cooking breakfast. However, her smile instantly evaporated as she saw who had knocked.

"Hey Sakura, mind preparing a room? We'll be having another guest for a few days." Shirou smiled.

"Ah, Sempai..." Sakura blinked. "O-Okay, please come in."

"Thanks."


	17. Chapter 15

**I do not own Fate/stay night. It is owned by Type-Moon.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 15: Distractions<p>

"Ah, Sempai..." The blue haired girl blushed as she looked at Shirou's scratched and dirty form.

The seemingly tired boy looked up energetically. "Hm? What is it, Sakura?" He asked.

"Well, I can understand Saber being wounded... but, who is that girl?" She pointed, her blush increasing, at Ilyasveil von Eizenbern, who was clutched tightly in Shirou's hands. Even as they had moved themselves into the Emiya living room, Shirou hadn't released her, and Lancer still held onto the unconscious Saber. Rin simply leaned against a wall with her eyes closed, not speaking.

Shirou blinked. "Oh, her? This is Ilya, she was Berserker's master, but Caster had her kidnapped after she took control of Berserker." He explained the circumstances that had led to him rescuing the girl, leaving out the incredible feeling of familiarity he'd sensed when he had approached her.

Sakura frowned. "Well... um... why is she... wearing a dress like that?" She gestured to the wedding dress-like clothing the white haired girl was clad in. "Sempai, are you actually a-"

"No!" Shirou interrupted her before she could finish the accusation. "I mean, she was wearing this when we found her! Caster must've dressed her up like that!" He stammered.

"So you aren't..." Sakura sighed in relief.

"No, she's just a child!" Shirou gulped. "Honestly Sakura, why would you even think that?"

She lowered her head as the blush increased. "Well..." She began, but couldn't force the rest of the words from her mouth.

"She thinks you look like a dashing Prince Charming rescuing his one true love." Lancer finished. He had taken a seat on the tatami mats near the TV, and was already browsing the fishing channels. "I bet she wishes she could be in that little girl's place." He chuckled.

""Lancer!"" The two teens yelled at once, berating the spearman simultaneously.

Then they froze, and looked at each other, the blushes on their faces increasing dramatically because of the coincidence. Shirou managed to regain his voice first. "Lancer! I don't want you accusing Sakura of such things!" He said. "And furthermore!" He pointed his finger directly at the person lying across Lancer's lap. "Why are you still holding on to Saber! She should be in bed resting!"

Lancer snorted. "Same reason you're holding on to Ilya kid, trying to see how good her body is." He paused, and then squeezed with his left hand. Saber let out an erotic moan, but didn't wake. "Hm... she doesn't have much in terms of size, but damn what she has is top quality!"

Shirou opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, unable to find a single thing to say in response to Lancer's statement, and Sakura blushed again, and started tearing up. "So you do prefer younger girls, sempai?"

"NO!" Shirou finally screamed. "It's just this idiot here talking nonsense again! Lancer, get your damn hands off of Saber or I'll slice them off!"

"Oh? You're pretty protective of your women, aren't you, kid?" Lancer laughed, but complied with the request and gently placed Saber on some of the softer mats and placed a cushion under her head. "Fine, happy now? You're the only one with any groping potential here."

Shirou blushed, but seeing Sakura opening her mouth again he quickly placed Ilya on the floor next to Saber. "Sh-Shut up! I don't think of her like that, and you know it!"

Sakura piped up as well. "Yes! Sempai is mi-" She stopped mid sentence as she realized what she'd been about to say, and her blush returned as she lowered her head. "I mean, Sempai isn't a pervert like that!"

Lancer just snickered at the two's frantic denials. Even a blind and deaf drunk Ulsterman could've seen that there were feelings between the two teens. Whether the feelings went any farther than a crush, Lancer couldn't tell, but there was definitely a connection. And plenty of opportunities to tease them about it!

"Well..." He tapped his finger on his chin and looked towards the ceiling as if thinking deeply. "I suppose if he was already taken, that would explain why he's got no problem carrying a little girl halfway across a city like that." He grinned. Oh, this would be fun!

The two immediately opened their mouths to retort once more, but this time it was another voice that spoke.

"Enough." Rin growled. She had finally opened her eyes, and even Shirou noticed that she seemed to be on the verge of a serial killing. A vein had become visible on her head, and she was gritting her teeth hard enough to possible erode them into nothing within minutes. "I don't want any more stupid romantic comedy developments in this house when we have much more important things to do!" Her voice was quiet, but carried a sense of dread that shut even Lancer's mouth.

"Damn." Lancer sighed. And he'd been so close too! "Alright, I'm guessing you want to talk about our sleeping beauties?" He lazily gestured towards Saber and Ilya, both of who hadn't moved since the group had left the mountain.

"Correct." Rin practically hissed. She gave each of the three a glare, though it was noticeably softer in Sakura's case. "Now, all three of you are going to sit down and shut up while I examine our friends here. If I hear a single word from your mouths, I'll cut your tongues out." She suddenly switched from an ugly frown to a seemingly innocent smile. "Okay?"

All three of them shivered and nodded rapidly. Even Lancer, who had for a moment been reminded of his old teacher. _Ah, Scathach always used to smile and threaten me like that. _He then shuddered again because of the bad memories. _I' m glad she never carried out her threats; otherwise I never would've been able to have kids. _Lancer, Shirou and Sakura swiftly dropped to the floor rather than face Rin's anger once more.

Rin swiftly stepped away from the wall and walked over to Ilya. She snickered at the girl's ridiculous outfit for a moment, but soon turned her attention to examining the girl more thoroughly.

"Hm..." She felt the girl's heartbeat, but it was the same as that of an ordinary sleeping child. "Oh...!" She opened the girl's eye, and momentarily recoiled at the blank red stare she received in return. "How about..." She moved her hands lower, to Ilya's lower midsection, and began to lift the dress. She eventually got the dragging cloth out of the way and stared triumphantly at the girl's panties. But before she could lift them, Shirou broke down.

"Tohsaka, what the hell do you think you're doing?" He pointed with all of his might at the scene, which was exactly the same as another scene of a deranged woman molesting an unconscious young girl wearing a wedding dress. "Is this really necessary?"

Rin blinked, but let the dress drop with an exasperated sigh. "Honestly Emiya-kun, you don't even know about what kind of magic can be woven there? You must be more inexperienced than I thought." Still, she moved on again, and this time placed her hand on Ilya's neck. "Fine, I'll do this the hard way." She said. "And don't you dare interrupt me!" She shot a glare towards Shirou, before turning her head back to Ilya and closing her eyes. Almost instantly she began chanting under her breath in a language Shirou couldn't understand but knew it instinctively to be powerful.

"Hm... she's pretty skilled." Lancer observed. "That Tohsaka girl definitely knows what she's doing."

Shirou responded instantly. "Are you crazy, didn't you hear Tohsaka? If we interrupt her she'll kill us!" He whispered as loudly as he dared to.

Surprisingly it was Sakura who spoke up to defend Lancer. "There's no need to worry, Sempai. She's in a trance right now, and is probing Ilya's body with her prana to look for any irregularities. No outside stimuli save for touch will wake her now, and this sort of thing takes a few minutes at least."

Shirou blinked. "Wow, really? I had no idea! You must be very powerful magus to have been able to figure that out just by watching!"

Under his honest admiration Sakura simply blushed again, but the corners of her mouth turned upwards slightly in a sad smile. "No... I'm no good. I never got a proper education, so what I know is... limited."

Shirou opened his mouth to respond but didn't say anything. How could he, when he had never learned proper magecraft either?

"Well." Lancer came to his rescue suddenly. "I guess that makes two of you. Emiya here is an absolute failure from what I've seen." Shirou bristled at the insult, but Lancer kept going. "He let himself get caught by one of the simplest body control spells I've ever seen, his basic reinforcement is horrible, and I don't think he's ever even used his magic circuits properly either!"

"Hey, I'm not-!" Shirou paused in the middle of his protest, and let out a sigh. "Actually yeah, I am that bad." He stared at his hands. "I'm no good at anything other than reinforcement and projection, and even that only works some of the time."

Lancer blinked. "What are you talking about kid, I was joking."

"But I really am that bad-"

"Not that!" Lancer interrupted him. "Listen, I've seen your abilities and I had my suspicions, but now I'm sure of it. You're not crap. Well, you are, but it's for a good reason." He scratched his head while trying to remember one of Scathach's old lessons. It had been about specializations, and he hadn't really been paying much attention then either. "Ah, right! You're specialized in a single type of magecraft."

Shirou didn't seem to get it, Lancer could tell by the confusion in the boy's face that he still didn't understand, but Sakura's expression lit up in a moment of realization. "Sempai, it means that instead of being able to do a wide variety of mage craft, your talents lie in only one specific type, in which you're especially proficient and skilled, most likely even more than nee-sa-Tohsaka-Sempai." She quickly corrected her hasty mistake, but Shirou hadn't even noticed.

"But I'm not good at anything." He tried to remember a skill of his that he'd been especially good with, but other than structural analysis all of his mage craft had been a complete failure. What could he possibly have talent for? "What could I be good at?" He asked himself.

Lancer shrugged. "Beats me. If I had to, though, I'd say your style of mage craft is a pretty cowardly one. Instead of using something of your own you take the weapons of others and wield them instead."

"Eh?" Shirou had looked up at Lancer's words, but then he just felt even more confused. "But I'm not a coward, and I don't understand what you mean about stealing..." He tried to puzzle out Lancer's cryptic hint, but nothing came to mind. He knew no magecraft centered on taking the abilities of others, and even if such a thing existed he would surely know nothing about it. A look at Sakura gained nothing, as she just shook her head. She couldn't think of an answer either. Of course her family possessed similar magic, but nothing that her Sempai would ever be able to use.

Before the two teens could continue with trying to figure out Shirou's specialty, though, another awakened. "Done!" Rin raised her head instantly, then stood up and stretched to work out the kinks of sitting in a single position without moving for minutes on end. She sighed and slid to the wall, leaning her back against it once more. "Alright." She proclaimed. "I've finished the diagnosis!"

"Well? C'mon we don't have all day." Lancer yawned, thoroughly unimpressed. Sure such a technique was usually delicate work, but Scathach could've done the exact same thing in seconds instead of minutes.

"Shut it." Her happy face slipped for a second into a glare towards Lancer before returning to her standard lecture expression. "I've checked, and besides having an absolutely ridiculous amount of magic circuits –though that is to be expected- she's fine. I found a spell with Caster's signature woven around her mind, keeping her in a sleep like this. I can't break it since Caster's spells are leagues above mine, but the good news is that it can't last for very long, so Ilya should wake in about 24 hours."

Shirou breathed a sigh of relief, but Rin held up a hand to stop him. "Wait, there's more." Rin frowned. "Her body isn't normal by any means. I mentioned earlier that she had way too many magic circuits. Well, that's because she isn't actually human. It's virtually impossible for a pure blooded human to be this powerful."

"But Ilya doesn't seem like a monster." Shirou said. He thought back to the first time she'd ever talked to him. That had been a girl, just like any other, not some kind of magical creature. "She has to be human!" He protested.

Rin waited calmly for him to finish before continuing. "I wasn't done yet. If you'd allowed me to explain..." She raised a finger in the air. "I would've been able to finish. She isn't a human, but a homunculus." She finished.

"A what?" Shirou cocked his head. "I don't know what-"

"Of course you don't." Lancer smirked. "That's why the nice lady is explaining it to you. So maybe you should be quiet and listen."

Rin continued without missing a beat. "Lancer, thanks for the help but you're not getting any points for that. Anyway, a homunculus is an artificial human, created using extremely complex magecraft, and possessing a large number of magic circuits and a powerful body beyond what any ordinary human can achieve in life. There are a large variety of types; some are recognizable instantly while others can even live as ordinary humans all their lives without being noticed. Now, the Eizenbern family specializes in creating homunculi, and Ilya here is a result of their extensive skill." She finished with a breath. "Now, any questions?" She asked the group.

Shirou puzzled over what he'd just learned. Ilya, a created being? Impossible. He instinctively knew that this girl had once had parents who loved her. She didn't at all seem like something that had been manufactured. Finally he crossed his arms and stared Rin in the eye. "So?"

Rin blinked. "So? This is important!"

"So why is it important? Why does it matter what she is? Does it make any difference in any way what kind of things this girl has been through?" He frowned. "Her body may be fake, but I know what's within is a real soul. I don't see why her being a... 'homunculus', matters in any way."

Rin blinked once more. She didn't even speak.

There was silence.

"I agree with Sempai." Sakura spoke up. "It shouldn't matter what kind of a body a person has if they have a good soul."

Rin sighed. "She tried to kill us." Her last protest. They had no way to refute this. Shirou had almost been flattened by Berserker the first time they'd met him, and the entire time Ilya had been watching.

But Shirou just waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine." He smiled. "Lancer tried to kill me once, too, but we're friends now, aren't we?" At that Lancer's smirk just grew, and Rin was reminded of why she disliked him.

But she could offer no more protests. "Fine!" She threw her hands up in the air as a resignation. "You win. Or better, your stupidity and willingness to let things go wins."

"Alright!" Shirou smiled giddily. His first victory against the red devil! Well, as much as he could call that a victory. "I'll go put her in one of the rooms where she can sleep comfortably." He knelt and scooped up the girl in his arms then exited the room swiftly and surely.

Shortly Sakura stood as well. "Um, I'll go see if I can help redress her." She blushed, and followed Shirou in a hurry, leaving only Lancer, Rin and Saber in the room. As soon as Sakura left, Rin's resigned smile turned into a frown, and Lancer's smile faded.

"You left something out." Lancer sighed. "How bad is it?"

"Not as bad as whatever it is you're thinking of." Rin shook her head. "First, I don't know how, but this girl is tied to the Grail as more than a Master. She has some kind of connection with the Grail War, and so does the entire Eizenbern family. Still, I won't be able to ascertain anything for certain until she wakes up tomorrow."

"And second?"

Rin whispered so Shirou and Sakura wouldn't be able to hear. "Homunculi are powerful, but their lifespans can vary as well. If this girl survives the Grail War, I estimate that she'll have only a year to live." She finished. Lancer's expression hardened.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." He finally said. "That Shirou is an idiot, but he's someone who fights to protect, not because he enjoys battle. If anyone can figure out a way to save someone it's him."

Rin's hard frown softened. "Emiya-kun... you don't understand because you're never seen it, but that wish, or promise, of his will kill him one day." She turned her head up to look Lancer in the eyes. "Just like your promises killed you."

"Don't push it." Lancer growled. Rin's words had hit a sore spot, one that had never really healed. "That kid is nothing like me, and you know nothing about promises."

She just looked even more mournful. "But Lancer-"

"Uugh... Shi...rou? Saku...ra?" A small voice cut the rising tension instantly. Saber's eyes fluttered open weakly. She tried to raise a hand, but her body wouldn't respond at all. "Where... what happened?"

"Saber!" Rin exclaimed and instantly sunk to the ground by the fallen swordswoman. "The battle's over." She quickly explained. "We're at Emiya-kun's home, and he's fine. You did you duties well."

Saber tried to nod but only managed a twitch of her head. "Shirou. Where is he?" She asked.

"I'll get him." Rin quickly stood and exited the room, leaving only the two Servants together. In an ironic twist their situation was once more flipped, with Saber on the verge of death and Lancer at an advantage. But he wouldn't use that opportunity, not against a truly powerful and respected opponent.

"Lancer." Saber's voice strengthened. Her tired face didn't twist into a visage of hatred. No, her hatred of Lancer had long since died. "Tell me what happened." It wasn't a question, but an order. Saber, even at her weakest would never think of bending her head to another Servant.

Lancer grinned. "We won, that's what happened. Berserker's dead, Caster's dead, and her Master got sliced to pieces by that kid you call Master. The only casualty on our side was Archer, but that girl looks like she's taken his death pretty well even though she can't win anymore."

Saber nodded weakly. It seemed as if strength was slowly returning to her body, but even that facade couldn't fool Lancer. He could tell right away that Saber's magical energy had sunk to dangerously low levels. She most likely wouldn't even be able to stand in that condition.

"Saber!" Shirou hurtled through the door clumsily and knelt down beside Saber. Sakura and Rin followed behind him at a more reasonable pace. "Are you alright?" He asked her. Frantically he grabbed her hand in his own.

She smiled slightly. Even though he was obviously panicking and tired, Shirou seemed as energetic and foolish as ever. "My wounds have healed." She finally said. She tried to tighten her hand in his, but that was beyond her. She frowned, and sighed. "I am sorry, Shirou." She said. "I do not think I will be able to fight for some time."

"You won't be able to fight at all." Rin interrupted. She had taken her place at the wall again while Sakura had sat next to Shirou and taken both his and Saber's hands. "At this rate you'll disappear within a few days." She said.

"What?" Shirou looked up in puzzlement. "But Saber is fine, right? She's just slightly low on prana at the moment. She just has to rest and regain it, right?"

"Idiot." Rin's response was scathing. "That would normally be the case, but because your contract is screwed up she hasn't been receiving any prana in the entire war. And that wound she took from Berserker was so deep that she had to expend almost all of her supply to regenerate from it. In this state she won't even be able to swing her sword before disappearing." Her eyes zeroed in on Saber, who wasn't saying anything. However, the look on the blond girl's face was enough to verify the truth of Rin's words. "And." Rin prepared for the finishing blow. "At this rate, Saber **will **disappear."

Shirou recoiled as if physically struck. He trembled and looked down at Saber again. She looked pale and weak, and the noble strength she had shown the first time he had seen her was all but gone. All that was left in Saber's place was the body of a slowly dying girl. "W-What can we do?" He asked.

"Well there are two ways to get your lass back to her good health." Lancer said before Rin could speak. "First, she can get prana from you, which apparently doesn't work here because of some contract nonsense. That leaves only one other way." His lips curled upwards. "She can get prana from others, by killing them and absorbing their souls."

"...no." Shirou whispered.

"It's the only way at this point, Emiya-kun." Said Rin. "I know Saber doesn't want to, so you'll have to use a command spell to force her to. You have all three left, so there shouldn't be a problem with using one to ensure your Servant's survival."

Shirou looked at Saber. Her face was resigned. "Shirou, I stand by my resolution. I will not take the lives of an innocent to replenish my own. If you use a command spell I shall be forced to do so, but." Her gaze pierced Shirou's own, staring directly into his soul. "I would hope that our trust is more powerful than the irrational urge to take the lives of innocents. And if you did order me to kill, I would no doubt be forced to, but remember." The glare hardened. For a moment the royal air returned to her gaze. "If you do so, you may consider our bond irreversibly broken."

Shirou understood. He slowly nodded. "You heard her Rin. Her answer is my answer. I won't force Saber to kill, no matter what."

Sakura nodded as well. "I won't allow Saber to kill an innocent." She said. "It goes against everything Sempai believes in."

Lancer just shrugged. "I guess you heard them girl. I'm inclined to agree with the kids as well, killing like that isn't Saber's style. So why don't we try something else?" Even though he had been the one to suggest the idea in the first place!

Rin sighed. "I knew you would say that." She moaned. "I was mistaken before, I had thought that you were a fool who wished to save everyone, Emiya-kun, but it seems I was wrong." She closed her eyes and shook her head in resignation. "You're all fools, every one of you. And I guess I'm one too, for going along with it."

Shirou and Sakura smiled at the success, Saber sighed in relief, and Lancer let out a low chuckle.

"Well!" Rin stood away from the wall. "I suppose that since we're looking for alternative choices, I'll need some things before we can begin. I'll be going back to my home for today to get some extra supplies I saved up for occasions like these. I'll be back tomorrow morning. Don't worry; Saber can survive for a few days as long as she doesn't do anything too stressful like fight." With that said she calmly strolled to the front door. They heard the sound of the door opening and her last parting words.

"Remember this, Emiya-kun. Saber is a heroic spirit! Don't mistake her for a human girl!"

With that the door finally closed.

The room was left silent for some moments after Rin's sudden retreat. The Lancer finally broke the silence.

"I think the lass might prefer to sleep on a bed as opposed to the floor, kid."

Shirou jumped at the words. "Ah, right! Sorry Saber, I'll get you to the guest room now!"

"Wait, Sempai." The words from Sakura of all people stopped Shirou in his tracks. He turned to the girl sitting beside him.

"Eh? What is is, Sakura?" He asked.

She raised her head. The blush on her face had grown immensely, but her eyes were clear. "Sempai, you would be willing to do anything to save Saber, as long as it doesn't involve killing."

Shirou nodded. "Of course, anything! Why do you ask?"

Sakura bit her lower lip. She seemed to be deep in thought. She looked up, and Lancer gave her a helpful thumb up. "Sempai." She cleared her throat.

"I have something that may work. Something that can get Saber a permanent source of prana."

"Really?" Shirou seemed overjoyed and desperate at the same time. "What is it?"

"It's a... Prana Exchange Ritual."


	18. Chapter 16

**I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon**

* * *

><p>Chapter 16: Relaxation<p>

"A what?" Shirou asked as Sakura repeated her nervous suggestion once more. "What's a Prana Exchange Ritual?" He scratched his head. "This isn't something dangerous, is it?"

"N-No..." Sakura gulped. It had taken all of her courage just to suggest this idea and now Sempai hadn't even understood? What was she supposed to do now? "It's... um..."

"It's something that can save Saber." A male voice interrupted her confused thoughts, and Shirou's clueless ones. "A mystical ritual to establish a connection between two or more people, allowing them to share prana with each other." Lancer explained quickly and concisely. "It's also ridiculously complex and takes immense training and concentration for the person performing it."

"Uh..." Shirou stared blankly at the last person he'd have thought to hear information about magecraft from. "How the heck do you even know that, and why didn't you suggest it earlier?"

"What? Am I not allowed to know stuff about magecraft? My teacher was a magus, and she taught me a bunch of things." Lancer yawned as the rays of the morning sun shone brightly through the windows. "Well, tried to, at least. I didn't usually pay attention, but this is one of the things I do remember. And I can't help you with that, unfortunately, because I don't swing that way."

"What does swinging have to do with anything?" Shirou said, puzzled. But he eventually dismissed the thought. "But... you said it's really complex." Shirou replied. "I know Sakura is a good magus, but I don't know if I'd be able to do such a demanding ritual properly." He glanced at the girl, and she blushed.

"Sempai, it's no trouble at all." She seemed to find her voice. "It would only be hard for me; you and Saber would just need to do... what comes naturally." Her blush intensified. "Besides, this is only if you both... agree."

Shirou looked thoughtful for a moment. "Sakura, this ritual you speak of... will it hurt you in any way?" He looked at her. "You're looking as if just suggesting something like this is painful." To him, the girl's halting speech and lowered gaze spoke of someone who was giving away her only child, or sending herself to be hanged.

Sakura smiled shakily. "No, Sempai. It won't hurt."

Shirou couldn't believe her. How could she say something like that when she seemed so ready to cry? But... he had to believe in her... "I..." Should he accept that offer?

"The kid'll do it." Lancer grunted. He had moved to the kitchen while Shirou had been thinking. He peered into the small fridge, and sighed at its emptiness. "Relax, she'll probably end up liking it, or getting jealous of Saber." He finally found a bottle of water that hadn't been opened yet. "Oy, you need to go shopping, kid. There's nothing here at all!"

"Don't go through other people's fridges!" Shirou replied in annoyance. "And about the ritual..." Shirou was confused. All these contradicting things... it was as if he was missing something important... But still, Lancer didn't seem like the type to lie, and Sakura had said it was okay... "Sure." He finally answered. "I'm willing to try this ritual, if Saber is fine with it." He looked towards the Knight. She had been stoic even in the face of death, so he expected a quick yes or no. What he got was as shocking as getting a spear through the heart.

Why? Why was she clutching her chest like that? Why did she suddenly look so vulnerable? Where the heck was that royal pride and bearing? And... were her cheeks red? Was the great Saber... blushing?

"S-Saber?" He repeated her name as if it would summon his Servant even from the depths of hell itself, but this frail looking girl in her place didn't respond. No, this was Saber, and she looked... cute in a way.

Finally, she spoke, her voice missing all of its usual poise and strength. "I... if it's with Shirou..." Her blush increased even more. "And... if it's you, Sakura, then it would be... acceptable." Her eyes stayed glued to the floor, not even trying to meet Shirou's own.

The boy gaped like a goldfish. Huh? What the heck? Was this ritual really that bad? "Uh..." He gulped. Suddenly it didn't seem as if this would be worth it. Anything bad enough to make Saber and Sakura borderline speechless couldn't be good news. "Actually, seeing what you guys are thinking... I might change my decision-"

""No!"" Two voices shouted at the same time. Saber and Sakura both stopped the sentence before the boy could finish it. Instantly they made eye contact, and in a split second an agreement was made. "It's fine!" Saber gasped. "I'll do it!"

"Yes, Sempai!" Sakura continued. "This is a very important thing we're talking about! Saber's life is at stake and we can't afford to be picky!" She latched on to Shirou's right hand.

"In fact, we should perform the ritual right now!" Saber said. With some straining she rose from the ground and took Shirou's other hand. "Sakura, where do we go?" She panted.

"His bedroom!" The purple haired girl responded instantly. The blush had already faded from her face, only to be replaced by an eerily familiar expression Shirou had thought only Tohsaka was capable of making. Needless to say, the fear he'd been harbouring over Sakura and Saber was quickly replaced by fear for his own life. "And there's a list of the food we'll be shopping for in the kitchen." She idly pointed out the paper with her free hand whilst the other restrained her panicking Sempai.

"Lancer, help!" Shirou cried, but instead of doing anything helpful the spearman just chuckled and gave him a thumbs up. "Can't you at least tell me something useful?" Shirou cried as the girls slowly dragged him down the hallway.

Lancer grinned. "Remember the coming moments for the rest of your life, kid! You're about to experience something most men would kill to get a chance to be a part of!" He called out.

Shirou had already been dragged out of sight, but let out one last yell. "DAMN YOU LANCEEEEERR!" He screamed, and his voice abruptly cut off as the door to his room slammed shut.

Lancer chuckled. The kid would be screaming soon. Seeing no food left, he finished the water bottle and tossed it in the garbage, then went to the living room, turning on the TV again. But even as he changed the channels he found himself yawning once more.

_Damn. _He thought. _I must've wasted more prana than I had expected. _At a rough estimate, he couldn't even use Gae Bolg in his current state, and the amount of magic he was receiving from Kotomine had significantly lessened, to the point where he wouldn't be at full power for a few days at least. _That bastard is doing this just to annoy me!_

He yawned once more. "Maybe... just a short nap." Even as the some vague sounds started coming from Shirou's bedroom, Lancer's eyes closed, and he fell asleep on the floor of the Emiya house, the TV still running on the fishing channel.

-Break-

_..._

_I'm still here._

_Even now, I'm still strapped to this rock._

_These chains have only gotten tighter. I've already given up trying to get free. There's no way to get away from these chains except to break them apart._

_**So why don't you? With your strength, freeing yourself should be no problem.**_

_Tch. Idiot. You don't understand. I can't break these chains._

_**Why?**_

_They're not something evil, or bad. I created these chains. I chose to stay here of my own free will, and that's exactly what I'll do!_

_**...I don't understand.**_

_Of course you don't. You're just some voice I keep hearing. What do you know?_

_**I... can't remember. Who are you?**_

_Me? You don't know who I am? Why are you even talking to me then?_

_**...I don't know.**_

_Tch. Great, so the voice in my head is a stupid one._

_I look around. My eyes have finally opened, and I can see again. The sun has set, and the chains have tightened, so I can't leave this hill, but the light of the full moon is enough to illuminate some things for me._

_I'm standing on a hill, of course. A grassy carpet coats the ground, save for where a large stone rises, behind my back. Of course, me and two others are strapped to it, but they don't move. Frankly, it would be scary if they did._

_But now that the moon has risen I can see farther than that._

_In front of me is an endless land of plains and hills. Thick, green grass is everywhere, and no trees or people are in sight. Just the grass and the full moon. The stars are shining, and they seem strangely familiar to me, as if I have watched them before._

_But there is a block. The majority of the sky, and even the far away hills are shrouded in fog. I can't see past it no matter how much I strain._

_But it doesn't matter. Why the heck am I even looking when I'll never leave this place?_

_**It's beautiful.**_

_Eh? This? Bah, it's just a bunch of grass and dirt._

_**How would you know? Have you seen all of it?**_

_Well... no... but even from here I can tell! Look! Nothing but rolling hills!_

_**I wonder what's at the top of those hills.**_

_Eh? Probably nothing. Seriously, who cares about the scenery in a situation like this? The tips of the other hills are shrouded, and I can't see anything there. But why does it matter? There's probably nothing there in the first place, so why would the voice wonder?_

_**But you don't know.**_

_What do you mean? It's plainly obvious!_

_**No it's not. You can't see, because the fog is blocking your view.**_

_Yeah, well... you can't see either!_

_**...I can still imagine, though. And I want to see. I want to see more of this place.**_

_Imagining won't do you any good. I'm stuck here. Why don't you just scram already? You could probably see it yourself._

_**I can't. I won't leave you, or rather, you won't let me.**_

_What the hell are you talking about? I'd be happy if you just left already!_

_**No you wouldn't.**_

_Gah! Damnit! That voice... it doesn't come from anywhere in this world. It's faint, and I can only ever barely hear it as if it's talking from a great distance, but that voice is always coming from within me._

_**I think you know who I am.**_

_No I don't!_

_**Have you forgotten me, then? Can I finally leave now?**_

_No!_

_**Why? There's nothing left here but a dead man.**_

_Idiot! I'm still alive, and I'll prove it to you one day! So don't you dare go anywhere!_

_**...Huh. You're a fool.**_

_...Shut up. I know that. But I'm right. You'll see. _

_I'll show you. So just wait for me._

_**Of course. But still, I think you're making a mistake.**_

_It's not a mistake._

_Even as I say that the chains tighten even more around my body, but I pay them no mind._

_I'll get out of here. I'll free myself from these chains, and prove that it's not impossible. I will!_

_**...I'm glad. Someone like you shouldn't be in this place. I'll believe in you, then.**_

_Don't be an idiot. I'm not leaving this place without you._

_And so, in defiance of the sentence that has fallen upon me, I stare into the foggy sky. And as I do, the fog miraculously clears away, revealing the stars in the night sky._

_But I'm not looking at the stars. I'm looking at something so captivating that it has drawn my attention away from this nightmare._

_The only thing I can surely see is that moon. Even now it shines almost as bright as the sun. _

_The blue blue glass moon, under the crimson air.  
><em>

-Break-

"Interesting."

Kotomine Kirei smiled. "Very interesting." He entered his church, having just returned from a certain errand related to the Grail War. He found the man with golden hair waiting for him, casually leaning against the supposedly sacred cross in the back. Unlike the previous day, he was not happy.

"I hope you have a good reason for me not to tear that dog apart, Kotomine." He growled. Instead of his usual clothes, the man was clothed in bulky, golden armour that was most likely worth more than the entire church they were standing in. "And I will not accept 'interesting' as a justification."

Kotomine didn't flinch, even as the air behind Gilgamesh started rippling. "Calm yourself, please. I can be of no help to you if I am dead." He asked. Gilgamesh glared, but the rippling stopped.

"You know what happened, Kotomine, and so do I." He said. "I was watching the battle, and I saw the 'fight' against that dumb brute." His eyes narrowed. "Why was _he _fighting alongside my Saber?"

Kotomine took off his heavy coat, leaving only his priestly garments. "They have allied." He spoke, short and to the point. "Incidentally, that is also what is so 'interesting'." His lips curled into a cruel smile. "I didn't expect him to get this far. But now he is one of the only three remaining Servants in this war."

"He won't be for very long." Gilgamesh's face rippled with fury. That filthy Lancer, fighting alongside _his _Saber. Speaking with her! Holding her even! Sleeping under the same roof as her! And now, causing her to sustain an injury she would have normally been able to avoid. Causing her to lose against someone she should have beaten! No, the King would not stand for that. "That mutt is dead."

"Now, perhaps we shouldn't be so hasty." Kotomine knelt down in front of the altar, hands clasped, as if praying. Of course, he was just thinking of his next plan. "There is no need to kill him yet."

"With only Saber and that Assassin left, who will kill him? Saber is honour bound not to touch Lancer, and Assassin has no way to take him down. Even a dog can beat a worm." Gilgamesh sighed, but snapped his fingers and his armour disappeared. He reached into the air and withdrew an old bottle that smelled of alcohol.

Kotomine smiled even as his eyes stayed closed. "As much as it displeases me, I have plenty of ways to kill Lancer even without needing your help. And besides." He rose swiftly from his position of mock prayer. "Even as much as it displeases me, there is still one more player in this game."

"The worm?"

"Makiri. As much as I hate that man, he possesses the power to control the Holy Grail, by replacing it with a false one." Kotomine frowned. "And now Emiya Shirou possesses both the True and False Grails."

Gilgamesh lazily opened the bottle and gulped down a long drink from it. When he removed it from his lips it had already been drained to half capacity, but Gilgamesh's red eyes were still focused. "It doesn't matter. Everything belongs to me, and that boy is just a thief."

Kotomine looked curiously at the bottle of ancient wine, and as a whim he extended his hand toward it. Gilgamesh chuckled, and dropped the bottle into the priest's hand. "A priest, drinking like that?"

Kotomine took an experimental sip. "I never said I was a good priest. And as I recall, you are the one who introduced me to the world of fine wines in the first place, all those years ago."

Gilgamesh chuckled. He no longer seemed angry. "Yes, that's part of the reason why you're interesting." Abruptly his expression changed once more. "Kotomine." He said, with an air of finality. "If that dog of yours causes Saber misfortune again, he shall die."

Kotomine removed the bottle from his lips. It was empty. "Gilgamesh." He smiled. "He will die, but not by your hands." At the Golden King's confused expression, Kotomine Kirei began to laugh. "Lancer will die, strangled by the very promises he has made!"

Gilgamesh stared blankly for a second, but as understanding dawned quickly in his mind, he began to laugh as well.

"Let's see how he tries to free himself from his own chains!"

-Break-

"HEY!"

"...murble..."

"HEY! IS ANYONE THERE?"

"Wha...?"

"I'M BREAKING THE DOOR IF NO ONE ANSWERS!"

Lancer blinked. "What?" He had only closed his eyes a second ago and there was already someone yelling at him? He rose to his feet instantly, and dashed to the front door. Why hadn't the kid answered it?

As he heard a particularly lustful moan emanate from Shirou's room, he remembered. "Oh, right. The ritual-"

"I'M COMING IN!"

The same voice yelled, and a giant thud echoed throughout the house as the unexpected visitor collided with the door. The hinges groaned, but held.

"Wait!" Lancer yelled before the mysterious visitor could attack again. "Don't break down the door, the kid'll blame me for it!"

"...Lancer?" The person recognized him? Now that she wasn't yelling, Lancer finally realized who had been threatening to bust the door down.

"Ah, sorry about that, Taiga." He replied. "I almost didn't recognize you." He sighed and approached the front door to let her in.

"Heh." He heard the schoolteacher's voice from the other side of the door. "I'm very ferocious when angered." She replied. "And normally I'd bust you for using my first name like that, but since you're a foreigner I shall forgive you!"

"Well, thanks for that I suppose." Lancer fiddled with the lock. Damn, how did these things work again? "Anyway, just a sec..."

"Hm..." He heard her thinking from the other side of the door. "Where are Shirou and Sakura?" She wondered out loud.

Lancer froze. At that moment another loud moan came from Shirou's room. Luckily it was muffled enough that only he could hear it, but he couldn't let Taiga inside like this! "Uh, wait just a second!" He said, and dashed instantly away from the door. "Crapcrapcrap!"

He stopped outside Shirou's room. The moaning and panting was loud enough now that even an ordinary person would've been able to listen. And that was exactly the problem.

"Oy, lovebirds!" He knocked roughly on the door. Instantly, with an "eep!" the sounds stopped, and he heard frantic scuffling behind the door. Seconds later the door slid open a small amount, and Sakura's head popped out.

"What is it, Lancer?" She said, panting. Lancer could see beads of sweat on her face, and he guessed that she wasn't wearing much behind the door. "We were... in the middle of something." She seemed annoyed. Of course, she had a right to be, considering what Lancer had just interrupted.

"Sorry to interrupt your... 'Ritual'." His grin caused a blush to appear on Sakura's face again. "But that Tiger-sensei of yours is knocking at the door. What do I do?"

Sakura momentarily panicked, but narrowed her eyes. "How much time do we have?" She whispered.

"A minute, I think." Lancer replied. "She was about to knock the door down before I stopped her, but she's getting suspicious." He sighed. "Got a plan?"

Sakura furrowed her brows. "Get some normal clothes." She quickly gave him directions to a room that had some of Emiya Kiritsugu's old clothes. And as she whispered the rest of the plan to Lancer, his grin slowly faded.

"Wait, you expect me to do all this?" He protested.

Sakura hissed. "Yes. And if you interrupt this, I'll never forgive you." Lancer gulped. Geeze, that girl could be scary when she wanted to be.

"Roger." Lancer sighed. And as Sakura closed the door, he instantly ran to Kiritsugu's old room and threw on the first shirt and pants he could find over his battle clothing. They weren't a perfect fit, and that Hawaiian shirt was really very tacky, but it was enough. He then dashed to the kitchen and scooped up the grocery list Sakura had mentioned earlier.

Finally, he returned to the door and threw it open, only to see Fujimura Taiga with a fist cocked and directly aimed for his face. It flew forwards and he just barely caught the punch with his free hand.

"Whoa! Sorry if I offended you that much!" He grinned.

Taiga frowned. "And that was my best punch, too. You foreigners are too strong!"

"Nah, I'm just awesome."

"More like really arrogant. I'll have you know that we Japanese have strong people too!" She retorted. "I bet Miyamoto Musashi or Sasaki Kojirou could beat you!"

Lancer gulped. "Yeah... they probably could." Three slashes to the chest at once... not very pretty.

Taiga smirked. "So even the mighty Lancer is afraid of our heroes? I guess that foreigner superiority isn't so good after all!"

He shrugged. "I know when I'm beat." But as his enhanced senses caught another moan from inside he remembered his real objective. He discreetly closed the door behind him. "Anyway, Shirou and Sakura aren't here. They're... uh... on a date!" Technically true, even if the date only lasted until they got to the bedroom for the good stuff.

Taiga's eyes narrowed. "And Saber?"

"She's with them too." Lancer replied.

"A date with two women at once?" Taiga sighed. "When did Shirou become so much of a playboy? I can't believe that boy..."

"Well." Lancer smiled. "That means there's nobody at home right now, other than me, a guest. And they left me the work, too." He brandished the grocery list.

As soon as she saw it, Taiga's eyes gleamed. "Ohoho? So they want you to go shopping?"

"Yeah." Lancer rubbed the back of his head. "But... I don't really know the layout of this place very well... could you help me?"

Taiga puffed up her chest. "Of course! Have no fear, for I shall guide you! I know this city like the back of my hand!" She grabbed the sheet and glanced over it. "Ooh! By the looks of these ingredients Shirou's planning on making something special tonight! C'mon, let's go!" She grabbed Lancer's hand and rushed down the stairs, almost unbalancing him in the process.

For the first time, she noticed his outfit. "Wait up! Are you wearing Kiritsugu's old clothes?" No one in their right mind could've missed the tacky Hawaiian shirt, but apparently for some people it took longer to sink in. "They look absolutely horrible on you!"

Lancer grimaced. "Well, I didn't exactly have many of my own, and the kid said I could borrow some of his dad's..." Still technically true, since Shirou hadn't objected to Sakura's orders.

Taiga shook her head adamantly. "Not a chance! You're not going to be walking around town like that! We're buying you new clothes before groceries!" With that being said, she tightened her grip around Lancer's hand and took off in a completely different direction than earlier.

_Ah. That... wasn't part of the plan. _He gulped. It would be a long day indeed.


	19. Chapter 17

**I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 17: Date<p>

"Alright! We have arrived!" The cheerful woman proclaimed loudly, oblivious to the stares of the rest of the occupants of the clothes store. "Now it's your turn!" She gestured to the sheepish man standing beside her. "You're not leaving this place until I see you wearing something fit for company!"

"Fit for company." Muttered Lancer. "I'm not naked, am I? And what's wrong with what I'm wearing anyway?" Sure, the Hawaiian shirt may have been a _bit _tacky, but there was nothing wrong here! At least it was in one piece, unlike some of the outfits he'd worn in his time.

"You look like an idiot." Fujimura Taiga replied instantly. "That shirt may have looked good on Shirou's dad, but when you wear it you look like a no good slacker who doesn't respect authority!" She pointed dramatically at Lancer's shirt. "And as a teacher, that is something I cannot allow!" Her eyes started burning with an inner fire, and she began to let loose killing intent.

"Alright! I get your point!" Lancer backpedalled away before she could rip apart the shirt. "I'll buy something more... respectful." He gulped. Why this? This woman was crazy! Even for him!

Taiga sighed and calmed down, but the triumphant look on her face made Lancer's blood boil. Him? Bested by a woman like her? Not happening! But before he could say anything she simply grabbed his hand and dragged him off to the men's area.

"Now let's see..." She grabbed items of clothing seemingly at random, tossing them at Lancer, who had to run around catching them before they hit the ground. "This one." A pair of pants flew towards an old woman, but Lancer managed to snag it with a free hand. "And this." A shirt flew through the air and Lancer had to jump over a young couple holding hands just to reach it in time.

"Wait, a second-" He sputtered as the pile just grew bigger and bigger, but Taiga didn't even seem to be paying attention. "Are you out of you-" His words were blocked as a jacket struck him in the face, blocking his vision. "You're insane!"

"Hm?" She turned around and looked at the large and bulky pile of clothes in Lancer's arms. "Yeah, that seems about right. Now let's get you changed!" She shooed him over to the change rooms and shoved him unceremoniously into one of the stalls with the pile of clothes. "Throw out all the ones you don't like, and we'll keep the rest!" She said.

Lancer sighed. Modern day women sure were weird, even for him. But he complied, trying on the clothing even though he didn't recognize any of the fashion, and so couldn't know what was good to wear. Zippers alone took him 5 minutes to figure out.

Eventually, through luck and bluster, he managed to narrow down the once gargantuan pile of clothing into a few articles. Although he had absolutely no idea if they were any good or not...

"Alright, now let's see em! Come on out!" Lancer sighed once more (he seemed to be doing a lot of that lately) and threw on some clothes before walking out of the change room.

"Ooh... nice!" Taiga grinned and gave thumbs up. "Looks like I was right! Black really doesn't suit you!"

"So your solution to that was to dress me up in every other colour you could think of?" Lancer didn't really know what to say. Instead of that hated Hawaiian shirt, Taiga had chosen a simple yet colourful red and green shirt, and ordinary black pants. While he himself didn't really care much for clothes at all, he had to admit that Taiga had chosen well.

"It works though, doesn't it?" She simply smiled certain of her victory.

Lancer ground his teeth, but was forced to admit defeat. "Yeah, I suppose it's a bit better than what I was wearing before..." He admitted.

"Good. We're buying that, then, and everything we haven't already gotten rid of." Taiga said. "And that's the last time you'll doubt my clothing skills! I took care of Shirou's shopping when he was a kid; I know exactly what fits you!"

"Crazy tiger woman..." Lancer muttered to himself as she forced him to carry the noticeably smaller pile of clothes to the counter.

Taiga froze, and her ears twitched. "What was that?" She half turned. "Did I just hear you call me... tiger?" Her eyes gleamed, and for a moment Lancer felt as if he was facing Berserker once more, but without Saber's help this time.

"Ah, no! I just... uh... well..." He gulped. It wasn't as if he could lie, as a Servant, he was honour bound to tell the truth, but for some reason his instincts screamed that admitting to his mistake would be a death sentence. "Sorry?"

Taiga blinked. Then she chuckled. "It was an honest mistake." She finally said. "Since you're a foreigner it can be excused." Her eyes then turned hard. "But call me tiger one more time..." She left the unspoken threat hanging, and Lancer found himself frantically nodding. He didn't want to see what would happen if he was to utter that forbidden word again.

Without fuss they bought the clothing. Taiga had ended up taking only a single outfit out of the store, but left the others at the store for Lancer to choose for himself at a later date. She also paid for everything despite Lancer's protests, waving it off with a promise to extract what she was owed later. Despite the intense fuss, the entire escapade had only lasted one hour.

"So? What's next?" she asked, turning to the still confused hero, as they exited the store into the bright and unusually warm day.

"Next?" He sputtered. "You dragged me across town for a clothes shopping trip when I was supposed to be buying groceries. How should I know what to do?"

Taiga nodded slowly, apparently in deep thought. "All right!" She grinned. "It's a date then! How about lunch? It's almost 12:00. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry already!"

"Lunch? Sure, whatever. Just tell me the way back home so I know where to go." Lancer groaned. When did things turn out this way? First he had been fighting Berserker, then helping the kid get some, and now he was on a date with said kid's beautiful teacher. Oh the misfortune-

Wait. Lancer blinked. A date? With a beautiful and strong woman? He grinned.

He could work with that.

"Actually." He said. "Lunch sounds perfect."

-Break-

"_You'll die if you don't summon it soon."_

"_I'll make your dreams come true!"_

"_Hiken: Tsubame Gaeshi."_

"_Ilya... I'll save you."_

"_Saber!"_

"_Sakura?"_

"_Prana Exchange Ritual?"_

"_Sempai!" "Shirou!"_

"_...Ah."_

"Oh."

Shirou blinked his eyes open. He was confused. When had he fallen asleep? He had just been... doing the Prana Exchange Ritual a few minutes ago! He blushed as he recalled the 'ritual' itself.

_Sakura... and Saber... at the same time? If I wasn't awake right now I would've thought something like 'that' to have been impossible!_

But it had indeed happened, and the final proof was the two mostly naked girls snuggled into each other to Shirou's left. While he himself had been sleeping on a single futon it appeared that Saber and Sakura had fallen asleep in the other one they had set up for the 'ritual'. Although he couldn't remember the actual ritual being _that _tiring, perhaps the almost sleepless night previously had tired out all three of them afterwards.

Shirou carefully rose from his bed, for a moment blushing at his lack of clothing. He glanced to the side and saw last night's torn apart and bloodstained clothes thrown haphazardly against the walls. Frowning, he took up the ones obviously too horrible to salvage, namely his own. Saber's were a different story, being only slightly damaged. He'd try to fix them later with his mediocre sewing skills, but for now he'd leave them.

He then tiptoed out of the room as quietly as he could, to avoid disturbing Saber or Sakura from their sleep. While Sakura predictably didn't stir, Saber's lack of reaction was surprising, since she was supposed to be a superhuman Servant. He had half expected her to instantly jump awake. Still, Shirou took it for good luck and moved on. He couldn't sense anyone new inside the house, and Ilya would be asleep for another couple of hours, so he had free reign. Of course, wandering around naked would always be embarrassing even in his own home, so he made his way to his room where he could get some clean clothes.

"That..." As he got dressed Shirou's mind naturally gravitated back to what had happened mere hours ago between him, Sakura and Saber. Even now he had trouble believing it. But it had undoubtedly happened. He, Saber and Sakura had...

However, before he could fully remember the events of last night, a feeling of wrongness flowed through his body. In his mind he felt a single point in his boundary field bend and snap as a shape passed through it, leaving behind the smell of a familiar face.

_There's someone here._

_RAP RAP RAP!_

Shirou blinked. Who could be at the door at this time? He hastily threw on his clothes and dashed towards the front door. Once more the hard knocks repeated, this time with a sense of urgency.

"Coming!" Shirou called, and that seemed to do the trick as the knocking stopped abruptly. "Just a second!" He ran to the room with Saber and Sakura still sleeping and carefully shut the door. Down the hall he checked quickly on the sleeping Ilya, who had been dressed in a different but still fitting outfit. Seeing no problems, he returned to the front door and opened it quickly.

"Sorry about the wait, I just woke up- Wait. What are you doing here!" The person in standing in his doorway was undoubtedly someone he knew, but at the same time he looked as if he had aged 10 years in the span of a single week.

"Heh." Matou Shinji curved the pale skin on his sleepless face into a smile. "It took you long enough, Emiya."

-Break-

The sun that had once dominated the night sky sank lower and lower into the horizon. Only a sliver of it remained to stain the night sky with its warm night, and the people of Fuyuki city, sensing the coming of night took shelter in their homes. The streets were mostly empty, with few people wandering through the old district at this hour.

But still, some did not mean all. A few stragglers remained awake even at the late hour.

"Hahahaha!" Taiga laughed as she skipped down the road. Lancer followed her at a more sedate pace, but he was enjoying himself as well. "Oh Lancer, you tell the funniest jokes." She chuckled once more, before frowning abruptly. "Hm... that wasn't very ladylike of me..."

"Don't worry about it." Lancer said. "I like a woman who can laugh out loud without being worried of embarrassment." He continued talking even as she blushed and ducked her head. "Besides, I'm not even finished yet. See, after that, I was by myself, all alone in the midst of the enemies, when the biggest one came up to me. Now this guy was huge, twice as tall as me and 3 times as thick!"

"Ooh!" Taiga's eyes widened in appreciation of the wonderful story. Lancer had been telling them for hours after she asked about his past, and they had gotten more and more ridiculous as the day passed by, starting off from him killing a dog with his bare hands at the age of seven, to finally challenging a tribe of warriors for the right to pass through their country. "What happened next?"

Lancer smirked. "Well this guy had just seen me out drink all of his men easily, and he was the only one left who hadn't participated. So he took out his sword, and then..." Taiga leaned forward in anticipation. "And then they made me their chief!"

She blinked. "Um... what?"

"Well they had the rule about the strongest ruling, and apparently me being the best drinker meant I was the strongest." Lancer shrugged. "Of course I said no. I still had things to do, so I just bade them goodbye and left." He said with a fond smile. "Ah... I could use a drink."

"Well, I know someone who owns a liquor store near here." Taiga fidgeted a little, as if she hadn't been expecting Lancer to actually agree to her offer of a drink. "It's pretty close by, but-"

"Great!" Lancer interrupted before she could voice any concerns. "Let's go, then! Lead the way."

Taiga glanced nervously at him again, and frowned slightly. "I'm not sure grandfather would be very happy about this..." She said to herself, but after seeing Lancer's playful expression, she forced a grin. "Very well! But don't blame me if grandpa orders you killed afterwards!" She cheerfully took off in a different direction, not even checking to see if Lancer was following.

Lancer easily kept up with her pace, but a nagging thought crossed his mind. "Your grandfather? Why would he want me dead?" Sure, he'd met quite a few overprotective family members in his time, but Taiga didn't seem like someone who had murderous family.

"He doesn't like it when I associate with... certain men." She looked faintly embarrassed as she spoke. "And, this one time, there was a guy who asked me out a few times, and then he ended up in the hospital." Her smile faded into a resigned expression. "Ryudou-san took it well, but that's really when my bad reputation started."

Lancer raised an eyebrow. Angry fathers? That actually sounded nostalgic. Back when had been alive, he'd seen plenty of men beaten half to death after nights of partying, and had even been chased one or two times himself by particularly foolhardy parents. "Sounds fun." He finally grinned. "Reminds me of home, even."

Taiga shook her head, but didn't seem as sad anymore. "You're a idiot, aren't you?" She snickered. "Fine! We'll see how long you last when grandpa finds out about this!"

"Don't worry." Lancer replied. "I'm good with parents." _I remember having to fight plenty of angry dads before. None of them survived. Some geriatric grandfather won't be much of a challenge!_

They took a last turn of the street, and came out in front of a small building. A sign saying '_Copenhagen Bar' _hung at the entrance, announcing the name of the establishment.

"My friend owns the place." Taiga explained. "Her name is Hotaruzuka Otoko, but she doesn't like her name, so just call her Neko-chan. Stick to that and you'll get on her good side quickly."

She opened the door, and the duo stepped inside. The place had a dark, but peaceful atmosphere, leading to a comfortable homely feel. Such a place would be great for relaxing and drinking a few glasses. "Hey Neko-chan! You've got a customer!" Taiga said, and seconds later a cheerful brown haired woman poked her head out from the doorway behind the counter. Lancer noticed that her apron read '_Copenhagen'_, probably meaning that she was the owner, or at least worked there.

"Fujimura!" The woman seemed pleased to see Taiga. "So you finally found a reason to come here? I was thinking I'd have to ask Emi-yan to force you here!" Despite the admonishment, her expression remained carefree.

"Didn't I help you out only a few days ago?" Taiga countered with a grin. "And why would I need a reason to see a friend?"

"Oh I can think of a few things..." Neko suddenly spotted Lancer, and smirked. "So, mind introducing me to your friend? Or is he already taken?"

Taiga uncharacteristically blushed. "This is Lancer." She finally said. "He's from Ireland and he's staying at Shirou's house for a few days."

"She was showing me around town, and decided that your bar, or is it a liquor store, was a place I definitely needed to see." Lancer smoothly took over for his stammering partner. "And I must say." He looked around the building appraisingly. "It seems like a nice place." He levelled his gaze upon the owner of said bar. "But... do you have the drink to back it up?"

"Depends." She countered. "Do you think you can handle what I have to offer?"

"Well there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Lancer sat down at one of the tables, a nervous Taiga sitting gingerly next to him. "Give us your best shot."

"Fine, you asked for it." Neko said. "Just give me a moment to bring out the good stuff. It's on the house, but only if you can drink it all!" She ducked through the back door, no doubt going to the basement to bring out the 'good stuff'.

At the same time, Taiga blinked in confusion. "You two go together surprisingly well." She observed, as if still unsure whether or not she should be happy or angry at the thought.

"I know my way around a bar." Lancer replied. "When I was younger, I used to party quite a bit. So much that the next morning when most of my drinking partners were still trying to find their pants, I'd already be out and running around."

"I know my way around a bar too." Taiga protested weakly. "But you're acting like you've spent every night of your life in one!"

"Well, that isn't really too far from the truth." Lancer shrugged. "Like I said, I was a rowdy kid. Got into a lot of parties, and even more fights. I settled down a bit when I was older, though."

"Old? You don't look older than 20!" Taiga said incredulously.

"Neither do you." Lancer smirked. "But I bet you can be wild when you want to."

Taiga blushed again. "Hmph, as a teacher, I have to avoid such activities." She turned away in mock anger.

Lancer chuckled. "And challenging me to a fight minutes after meeting me doesn't count as one of those activities you're trying to avoid?"

"That was... that was different!" She protested.

"How?"

Taiga bristled with mock anger. "I challenged you to a fight on the pride of my heritage as a Japanese! A fight over nothing isn't the same as a fight for something!"

Lancer nodded slightly, but her words had struck something in him. "A fight for something, huh?" He furrowed his brows. "You'd be surprised what kind of things a person can fight and die for." His words carried a bitter tone, completely different from his earlier teases.

Taiga blinked. "Hey, Lancer, I didn't mean to-"

"Alright! Here you go! Let's see if you can handle these imports, Fujimura!" Neko burst through the door carrying an old and dusty bottle, also interrupting Taiga before she could finish speaking. She slammed the bottle on the countertop. "I got this a few months ago. Apparently it's older than your grandpa, Fujumura." She rubbed the dusty bottle fondly. "This liquor is worth big money to collectors, but since it's you asking for it, I'll let you two have some."

Lancer experimentally took the heavy glass in his hand. The liquid inside was a deep dark brown, yet shimmered with a teasing light. His mouth watered. Drink? Yes, this was going to be good-

"Oh no you don't!" Taiga snatched the bottle out of his hand before he could open it. "You're not drinking all of it right now! First, it's Neko-chan's special one of a kind collection, and I won't have you guzzling something worth this much money!" Neko smiled at that. "And second, you can't drink it all yet! It's only noon, much too early in the day for something like this. We should come back here sometime in the evening, and _then _drink it all!" And Neko slumped with a sigh. So much for her friend caring...

"Geeze, fine!" Lancer conceded. "We'll come back her in the evening. I'm holding you to that." He grumbled, but rose from his seat. "Sorry, Neko-chan." The owner blushed as he said her name. "But you'll have to postpone your reunion with your old pal for a few more hours." He shot her a smile. "That won't be a problem, will it?"

Neko blinked as if rising from a trance. "N-no, not at all." She replied dreamily. "I'll look forward to it."

"Great." Lancer turned to the teacher eyeing the several centuries old brew. "And hold on to that, we'll have some of it tonight. But for now, I've got some grocery shopping to do." He took the list of ingredients from one of his new pockets. (These things sure were convenient!) "I recall that a certain someone promised to help me out with that task?"

"Oh crap." Taiga sighed. "I'm... not getting out of this, am I?"

"Not a chance."


	20. Chapter 18

**I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 18: Deception<p>

"Shinji… you look-"

"Like crap?" Matou Shinji suggested, interrupting his friend's sentence. "I know. But don't worry about it, I feel better than ever." He tried to smile energetically, but on his now distorted features, it became more of a grimace. "Can I come in, or are you too busy for a friend?"

Shirou hesitated. For some reason, his instincts told him not to allow Shinji inside his house. But he dismissed them instantly. Why shouldn't he? Shinji was his friend, and there was no reason to refuse. "…Come in, then." He said, moving out of the doorway.

Shinji entered, almost stumbling over the entrance, but catching himself at the last second. "Relax, Emiya." He said to his friend's worried expression. "It's nothing you need to worry about." As if to prove there was nothing wrong he sauntered calmly over to the living room without even bothering to take off his shoes. "Hurry up, there's something I need to talk to you about." He called back.

_Yeah, that's Shinji alright. _Shirou smiled. If it had been anyone else acting like that, it would've given him cause to be concerned, but Shinji seemed to be his usual rude self, although he really didn't look very healthy. "Just a sec, let me get you some food. You look exhausted, and it's almost time for dinner anyway."

Shirou made his way to the kitchen, and opened the fridge. However, to his surprise it was almost empty. Ah, right. Lancer had mentioned that it was empty earlier… "Sorry, but it seems I forgot to go shopping. I'm running a bit low on food at the moment." He said sheepishly.

"About that, Emiya." He heard unsteady steps, and Shinji limped his way into the kitchen. "Are you talking about this food?" He held up two plastic bags filled to the brim with food products from a nearby grocery store. Shinji frowned. "I was about to knock when Fujimura and this idiot who's name I didn't get ran by. Fujimura recognized me and told me to give you the shopping since it seemed I was visiting." He casually tossed the bags towards Shirou, who barely caught them in time.

"Ah, that's a friend who's staying with me for a while." Shirou said as he organized the food into the fridge. "Although it's scary that he's with Fuji-nee. Alone he's more scatterbrained than her, but if they're together…" He shuddered to think about how such a situation could rapidly spiral out of control.

"He did seem like an idiot, yes." Shinji replied, absently examining an apple he'd pilfered from one of the bags. "It makes sense that an idiot would seek out another idiot for company. Those two are probably meant for each other."

Shirou frowned, but didn't say anything. He knew well enough that asking Shinji to be polite towards his friends was a futile endeavour. Instead, he diverted the conversation to another topic. "What would you like to eat?" He asked. "With what I've got, you can have pretty much anything."

Shinji groaned at that, as if he'd suddenly gotten a stomach ache. "Just… make whatever." He finally said. "Preferably something quick. I won't be staying long."

"Alright. I'll make some soup then. Is that fine?" Shirou said as he took out the relevant ingredients from the fridge and cupboards.

"Whatever." With the grimace growing, Shinji clutched at his stomach. "Just don't put any Wakame in there. And where is your washroom?"

"It's down the hall to the… right." Shirou raised his hand to point but Shinji had already left the kitchen before the question could be answered. "Why did he even ask if he already knew?" He sighed.

"And furthermore…" He wondered as he stirred the soup. "Why is he even here? At a time like this… it's almost dark out, and he doesn't look very healthy…"

No, using the word unhealthy to describe his friend would be an understatement. In the short time he'd seen him, Shinji had seemed weak, as if he'd lost most of his body weight. His skin was sunken, his hair limp and pale, and Shirou even spotted some clearly visible veins on his friend's face, sticking out amidst the sallow skin surrounding them.

No, his friend was most definitely not 'fine'.

"You're over thinking it, Emiya."

"Ah!" Shirou fumbled his spoon, and barely managed to catch it between two fingers before it hit the floor. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!" He sputtered.

Shinji just grinned. "I was walking normally, and you were mumbling to yourself like some idiot. It's not my fault you can't hear properly."

"Well I was busy cooking, so excuse me for not paying attention!"

"C'mon now Emiya, is that any way to talk to a guest?" Shinji said lazily. "And after I came all the way to your house, too…"

Shirou ground his teeth. Yes, this was definitely Shinji. No one else would be so rude yet make it seem like he wasn't. In fact, if his friend had actually apologized, then Shirou really would have had cause to worry.

"Sorry." He forced himself to say. "The soup will be ready in a few minutes. Now could you please tell me why you're here?"

"Sure." Shinji leaned backwards against the wall, gazing disinterestedly at his friend cooking. "I heard my sister is staying here."

Shirou froze. "You…"

"What, is it wrong for a big brother to want to see his little imouto?" Shinji idly picked at his fingernails. Almost all trace of his previous awkwardness was gone from his movements. "My grandfather told me that she was staying at your place, so I decided to pay you a visit, and see how she's doing."

"Well, there's nothing wrong about that, and I'm glad you're being so understanding…" Shirou said, hesitant to reveal any information about the Grail War. Was Shinji an ordinary person or a magus? If Rin had managed to fool him into believing her to be normal, could Shinji have done the same? The Matou were a family of magi, after all…

"Of course I am, it's why I'm so popular with the ladies. You should try being more sensitive sometimes, Emiya. Honestly, sometimes you're oblivious to the most obvious things." Shinji sniffed. "Although, I see you're still as good of a cook as ever."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"Don't be silly Emiya, why would I insult my friend?" Shinji said. "Especially the friend _she _seems to have taken a liking to."

Shirou nearly spit out the small sip he'd taken to taste the soup. "You're misunderstanding!" He cried. "Sakura is just a friend!" The last thing he needed was Shinji angry at him.

"You probably think I'm angry about her liking you." Shinji sighed. "But Emiya, I'm worried about _you_ liking her."

"W-What do you mean?"

Shinji shook his head slowly. "She isn't all that you think she is, Emiya. You'd do good to stay away from her."

Shirou blinked. Of all things, he hadn't expected that. "What do you mean? She's not exactly evil or conniving… I'd have to say she's the sweetest girl I've ever met."

"So she's already got her claws in you, Emiya?" Shinji said. "Disappointing. I'd hoped that you could at least see through her innocent façade, but it seems I'll have to tell you myself-"

"Nii-san!"

From the entrance to the kitchen, a trembling girl yelled. "Please don't!" Sakura panted from the exertion. "Please…" Her clothes thrown on haphazardly, the girl seemed as if she had just awakened moments ago.

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Shinji sneered. "I was just talking with my friend. Leave us, you're annoying."

Shirou frowned. "No you're not. You can stay and help me with this soup. Unlike _someone, _I'd like to have you here." He threw a glare to Shinji, reminding him exactly why their friendship was strained.

"Eh, fine, have it your way." Shinji shrugged. "I was going to have to talk with her eventually. I'll wait for dinner first, so I can get all of you here." He sauntered to the living room and switched on the television as if it was his own home.

Shirou sighed. Shinji hadn't changed a bit. But still, how could he look so horrible yet seem so fine?

"Ah, S-sempai…" Sakura shuddered. "I'm sorry if I'm… annoying."

"It's fine, Sakura." Shirou smiled. "Don't let that idiot brother of yours order you around like that. I like having you here."

"Ah, thank you, Sempai."

"Is… she still asleep?" Shirou asked hesitantly.

"Yes. Saber-san is a very deep sleeper." Sakura said. "I tried to wake her but she wouldn't get up."

"It's probably for the best." Shirou looked towards the living room. "We wouldn't want Shinji seeing her."

Shirou watched as Shinji yawned and turned up the volume on the television. His friend was certainly acting normal, but still…

"Sakura, did you get a look at your brother's face?" He asked, quietly.

She nodded. "Yes, and no, I don't know what could make him look that way, unless…" She trailed off, and shuddered once more, as if the very thought of that unknown thing scared her. She glanced towards her brother in the other room. He hadn't moved. "Maybe…" She shook her head. "No, it's impossible for it to be that. But…" She hardened her gaze. "I might… need to speak to grandfather."

Shirou nodded. He didn't really understand, but Sakura seemed to have everything under control. "If you're sure." _What kind of person is her grandfather? I've never really been to her house before. She's a magus, so he's probably very a very strong magus as well… _"How about we bring you there tomorrow?" He suggested. "Until then, and since you're here, we might as well make dinner!"

The girl immediately brightened up.

"That would be… nice." Sakura said. "Ah! The soup! It's going to burn!"

-Break-

"Hehe, and then I made them all take the test again! That'll show them to call me Tiger on my birthday!"

"Are ya feeling alright? I'm not exactly the kind of guy who should be saying this, but haven't you had a bit much to drink?" Lancer asked, as an inebriated schoolteacher giggled and skipped along the road in front of him. Thankfully it was already dark, and the streets were empty. Otherwise he would've had to keep her on the sidewalk.

She just nodded, and then realized he wouldn't be able to see her, so she settled for an empathetic yes. "Great! I haven't gotten a chance to relax like this for ages!"

"Well I'm glad I could help." Lancer said. Unlike his companion, his stride was perfectly even and his voice clear. Whether it was his status as a Servant or simply his own, ridiculous fortitude, he had managed to stay mostly sober, aside from a slight buzz. "That friend of yours sure was generous to let us have some of that stuff of hers."

"Ha! Neko-chan's a great girl!" Taiga laughed. "Always knows how to have fun!" She stumbled, but managed to keep her balance. "And unlike her stuffy dad, she's never afraid to actually drink instead of just look at the shiny bottles."

"True, she did know how to have a good time."

"The best!"

"Well, I admit, I can see why you two are friends." Lancer said. "You cats have to stick together, after all."

The air froze. Killing intent could be sensed, exuding from the suddenly still woman in front of Lancer. He was going to die. He had made a grave mistake, and now he would pay for it with his life-

"Hey, don't call me a cat!" Taiga whirled clumsily, pointing a finger in Lancer's general direction. "I'm a lady, not some jungle animal!" She pouted.

"M-my mistake, sorry." Lancer breathed a sigh of relief. "You are a beautiful, cultured and intelligent lady."

"And ferocious!" Taiga giggled once more. "The most ferocious lady in all of Japan!"

"Y-yeah, that too." Lancer added quickly. _Damn, this lass is crazy when she drinks! I've never seen anyone swing between moods like that since Aife! And she was a bipolar warlord!_

"Did you know…?" She suddenly stopped and whispered loudly. "I'm the best swordsman in all of Japan!" She pumped a fist into the air. "And it would've been official, but those dummies disqualified me just because I had that personalized strap on my sword!" And then she yelled quietly into the night sky. "I could've conquered the world!"

"I'm sure." Now he was getting worried. Sure she seemed fine, but in his experience with drinking loud boasts was most often followed swiftly by violence and brawling. Not that he disliked that, but fighting against an ordinary human woman was not something he wanted to do again. "Maybe we should sit down for a second? You're looking a bit woozy there."

"I'm fine! I can walk-"She slipped on a wet patch of ground and Lancer swiftly caught her before she could make contact with the ground. "Okay, maybe just for a few minutes." She said.

"I'm pretty sure there's a park nearby." Lancer scooped up the protesting woman in his hands and swiftly carried her over to the park. He spotted a bench and made a beeline for it, gently setting Taiga on it. "There. Now stay there for a bit, and then we'll go, alright?"

"…alright." She mumbled.

…_I didn't know girls like her even existed anymore. _Lancer thought as he looked up at the starry sky. _She would've fit right in with the Red Branch Knights, even._

Well, she wasn't the only one…

_Bazett._

_Damnit, why am I remembering now of all times? This is just ridiculous. I'll fulfill my promise, so wait-_

"Lancer."

"Hm?" He blinked as Taiga began speaking once more. "What is it?"

"Do you know what this place is?"

He blinked. "It's a park, right?" It looked pretty normal to him, all things considered. Nothing special, no creepy people hanging around, no puddles of mysterious liquid. A perfectly ordinary park.

"Huh. You really must not be from around here if you don't recognize it." Taiga's drunken grin had faded from her face. "This is where the great fire happened many years ago." She scraped some dirt from the bare ground. "Nothing's grown here since then. Nothing. And not many people go here anymore."

Lancer looked around. Sure, it was empty, and there wasn't much plant life to speak of… he tried extending his senses.

Death. Pain. Life. Fire. Agony. Smoke. Tears. Destruction. Perseverance. Failure. Anger. Grudge.

"…This place…" He muttered to himself.

"Not the prettiest thing, is it?" Taiga stared at the barren dirt. "No one knows what caused it, but one second it was a peaceful night, and the next an entire city block had been destroyed."

Lancer knelt on the ground and brought up a handful of dirt. Now that he had caught its trail, the telltale traces of decade old magical energy remained. Almost nonexistent, but it could still be there, like the last drop in a bottle of water. He would never have noticed unless he was specifically looking for it. Whatever disaster had occurred here was most definitely not manmade.

"Sounds pretty bad." He said. "Sorry for bringing you here. Am I bringing up any unwanted memories?"

"Nah." Taiga sighed and leaned back on the bench. "Just a coincidence. I'm telling you about Fuyuki's illustrious history. I am a teacher, after all, so pay attention, because there's going to be a quiz later."

"Sure."

…

There was silence. For what seemed the longest time neither Lancer nor Taiga spoke. The silence was punctuated by a mournful wind, and some fallen leaves blowing about.

"…There was only one survivor." Taiga finally said. "Everyone else died, but one lived through it."

"Who?" Lancer finally asked. With a magical energy powerful enough to remain in the earth for ten years and keep any living thing from growing, there should not have been anything capable of living through such a strong energy.

Taiga looked at the sky. "A young child. Barely alive, he was rescued by a man searching for survivors. Later, the child was adopted by that same man."

"…the kid?" So it wasn't just his imagination. Emiya Shirou must've had extraordinary luck to live through a disaster of that scope. Perhaps the kid wasn't just some half-assed magus after all.

"Yes. He survived where everyone else died. And because of it, he's not an ordinary child." Lancer glanced to the side. Taiga seemed sad. "I don't know much about it, but even I can tell he's not normal. He's too much of a nice boy for his own good."

"…what's this got to do with me?" Lancer finally said. "Sure, this is interesting, but I'm just some guy who showed up a few days ago."

"Shirou would do anything to help a friend." Taiga continued. "Even if it killed him." She turned to Lancer, and the fire in her eyes kept him from moving. "I don't know what it is that he's doing, but I've got some ideas. The deaths that have been occurring, Saber showing up out of the blue, then you arriving in that horrible condition… I know Shirou's gotten himself involved in something dangerous."

"…maybe. But I can't tell you about it. If I did, I'd have to kill you." Lancer smiled sadly.

"…heh." Taiga chuckled. "Fair enough. Just… try to make sure he doesn't get himself into even more trouble, okay? I know you're a good guy, and it shouldn't be a problem for someone as strong as you."

Lancer smirked. "I'll do my best."

"I'm feeling better now. I think I'm ready to walk." Taiga said as she stood up. Her movements were already much sharper than before, and the night air had done her plenty of good.

"Shall we go then?" Lancer sprung up beside her. "Where's your home?"

Taiga shook her head. "No, take me to Shirou's place! My instincts are telling me that he's in big trouble!"

Lancer raised an eyebrow.

"And… um… he's also cooking something delicious?"

"Better."

-Break-

Seated at the dinner table, the three high-schoolers ate an awkward dinner, with almost no speaking or even communicating. Sakura tried her best not to be noticeable, and Shinji just asked for seconds, ignoring her. Shirou had tried to start a conversation earlier, but his feeble attempts died soundlessly.

"Not bad, Emiya." Shinji said as he finished his second bowl of soup. "You haven't gotten worse, at least."

"…Thanks." Shirou grudgingly accepted the praise. Although he couldn't quite put his finger on it, something was very wrong…

"You know, I've been thinking…" Shinji said. "Is it just you, or do I sense the presence of another person here? Perhaps a guest of yours?" He sneered.

Shirou blinked. When had his reluctant friend become so perceptive? He couldn't show Saber to him, though. He couldn't involve yet another innocent in the war. Best to use an excuse to divert attention.

"Yeah, an old friend of my father's is staying here for a few days. She's still sleeping, though." He finally said. A lie, but a believable one. Hopefully Shinji would fall for it.

"Sleeping, you say?" Shinji said. "You're not trying to hide something from your good friend, are you?" Despite the scarred state of his face he seemed more relaxed, more than Shirou had ever seen him.

"It may be late, but she's tired and needs to rest." Shirou said firmly. "So yes, she's in bed right now."

"Then who's that standing behind you?" Shinji asked, bemused.

"Eh?" Both Shirou and Sakura spun in their seats, only to see a fully dressed Saber standing in the doorway with her eyes narrowed, staring at Shinji with something approaching the disgust one feels when they realize a mosquito has been feeding on them. "Saber?"

"Yes, it is I." She walked in and sat down stiffly next to her Master. "Shirou, why was I not informed it was time to eat?" She kept a blank expression, but even Shinji spotted the slight anger in her twitching eyes. "It is vital that I am fed." She repeated. "Please do not forget to tell me again."

"S-sorry, Saber." Shirou gulped. He quickly piled some of the food onto a plate and gave it to Saber as a peace offering. She glared at it for a moment, before finally relenting and digging in.

"So, Saber? That's an unusual name." Shinji commented. Sakura opened her mouth to speak up, but a glare from Shinji silenced her instantly. "Are you perhaps… foreign?"

"Yes." She said, not even looking up from her food. "I am an old acquaintance of Emiya Kiritsugu."

"So it would make sense for you to stay here." Shinji nodded, but he seemed displeased at something. "What I don't understand, though…"

"…is why this idiot over here is your Master."

_Clank_

Shirou's spoon dropped from his hands. Saber had paused mid bite, and Sakura just lowered her head and tried to shrink into her seat. Their surprised expressions told the whole story.

"What? You thought that while _she _knew magecraft, I didn't? You thought that I, the Matou heir, wasn't a magus?" Shinji sneered. "That's exactly why you're an idiot, Emiya. You probably never even suspected for a moment until she decided to reveal herself to you." The unintentional double entendre caused Shirou to shiver.

"What? It shouldn't be that surprising. Of course I know everything. About magecraft, about Servants, and about _the Grail War._" Shinji set down his spoon and rose to his feet. His scarred face seemed even uglier in the light. "And I'm amazed that you, of all people, managed to summon the greatest Servant, Saber." The last part was almost a hiss of anger.

"S-shinji, I…" Shirou tried to talk, but Saber beat him to it.

"You… are you a Master?" She instantly materialized her armour, and her seemingly empty hand was instantly pointed at Shinji.

"Whoa, calm down!" He raised his hands, though his expression didn't change at all. "I'm Emiya's friend! He won't let you kill me!"

Shirou frowned. "Saber, please don't threaten my friends." He gently pushed down Saber's invisible blade. She sighed, and lowered her sword, but the armour remained.

"Hmph, can't even control your own Servant? You probably summoned her by accident with how lucky you've been." Shinji said. He began to pace around the dinner table, drawing everyone's gaze. "At least I know why you've survived this far. Your Servant has been doing most of your work for you."

Saber's glare increased in magnitude. "Do not insult my Master, cur."

Shinji ignored her. "And it seems you can't even control her properly either. How pathetic, Emiya."

Now even Shirou was angry. "Shinji, stop it." He growled. "Are you here just to insult me?"

"No, of course not!" Shinji put up a hideously transparent expression of mock surprise. "Why, I'd never insult a friend!" Sakura shuddered as he said the last word. "This is simply some constructive criticism! You should be thanking me for my generous advice."

"Nii-san, why are you here?" The person who finally spoke up and interrupted the tirade of insults was not Shirou or Saber, but Sakura. She trembled from the exertion of standing up to her big brother.

"…" Shinji glared at her. His ugly face hosted an even uglier expression of hatred and loathing. "I'm here to take you home. Grandfather has spoken, and you're…" He seemed disgusted with what he was about to say. "…needed."

"…no…" Sakura fell back, and it was only her seat that prevented her from falling to the ground. "But…"

"No resisting." Shinji hissed. "You're going back. You should be thanking me. When this idiot gets himself killed in the war you won't be there to see it."

"I'm not dying, Shinji." Shirou growled. "And Sakura doesn't have to leave if she doesn't want to." He stood up abruptly. "Now get out of my house."

"I'm not leaving without her, Emiya." Shinji stood right in front of his supposed friend, and the two stared at each other nose to nose, neither willing to relent. Saber stood by, unsure of whether to interfere or not, and Sakura clung to Saber's armour, to horrified to speak.

"I'm not repeating myself, Shinji. Get out of my home."

"Like I said, Emiya. I'm not leaving without her."

"If you want her you'll have to go through me and Saber."

"The day I fear you is the day I die, Emiya. Bring it on."

"And what about Saber?"

"Oh, her? She's already being taken care of." Shinji smiled, a cruel and wicked thing that seemed to compliment his now monstrous features.

Shirou blinked, and then his eyes widened as the realization sunk in. "Saber, move- OOF!" His warning was cut short as Shinji sank a fist into his stomach, shoving him into the living room. He tumbled over backwards and his roll was only stopped by the television.

Saber moved to help, but before she could a flurry of dark streaks shot towards her and Sakura. She hissed in anger as she was forced to put up her guard and deflect them. In that split second Shinji ran out the door after his once closest friend, shrieking in joy. "You've always been a fool, Emiya! I don't even know why I was friends with an absolute doormat like you!" He threw a kick into Shirou's stomach, lifting the redhead off the floor and flinging him into one of the walls. Miraculously the thin wood and paper held with only a few creaks, and Shirou dropped, coughing, onto the floor.

"This is the power of a magus, Emiya!" Shinji laughed. "And that's what I am, and you aren't! You're a failure, a weakling, and a talentless wreck!" Another kick. And another.

"Shirou!" Saber heard a yell of pain, and growled in anger. She swiped at the next wave of projectiles. Only an Assassin could attack like that, but where was he? She couldn't any enemy, and the projectiles came from almost every direction. "Gr… Sakura, go help him!" She called to the only one who could still move: the girl behind her.

"Y-yes!" Sakura ducked out of the room, as Saber jumped over the table to slice at her invisible enemy.

"You won't hold me for long, Assassin!" The warrior roared.

Sakura made her way to the living room, where she could hear sounds of flesh striking flesh. What she saw almost brought her to tears.

"Guah!" Shirou stumbled backwards. The hastily projected wooden blade in his hands splintered as it took the force of Shinji's fist. "Shinji, why-"

"Shut up!" Shinji lashed out wildly with unhuman strength, rendering Shirou's weapon nothing more than splinters. "This is all your fault, Emiya! You shouldn't have tried to stop me! I'm a magus now! Nothing you have can hurt me!" He swung wildly, but his untrained blow seemed to blur in Shirou's vision, even as he ducked to avoid it.

_How is he… _"Guh!" _…getting all this strength? This is almost as strong as Kuzuki was! He shouldn't be this powerful- _"Argh!" He stumbled backwards as the splinters from his broken projection were blown backwards into his skin. "Why are you doing this?" He swung his now empty hands, and another wooden sword materialized into existence.

"Because grandfather said so!" Shinji retorted. He raised a hand and grunted as the blow his arm. Yet there was no crack of bone. "And as the new heir to the Matou family, I follow the orders of the head!" He grabbed the sword with his other hand and yanked it backwards, pulling Shirou forwards at the same time. "She's unimportant! I'm the heir! Me! Not her!"

"Shinji, you idiot!" Shirou released the sword with his left hand, and at the same time projected another one. For a moment that mysterious longsword came to mind, but he dismissed it. He wouldn't use deadly force against his friend! And he swung at Shinji's unprotected side.

"You're the fool, Emiya!" The sword smashed against Shinji's head, but apart from his neck bending at an unhealthy angle the grinning boy seemed unharmed. "Now shut up and stay down!"

_Shunk!_

"…ah…" Shirou collapsed, onto his knees, as he felt something pierce his stomach. He numbly glanced down, only to see Shinji's hand there, palm open. And protruding from his friend's palm was…

…a sharpened bone, bleeding with both his blood and Shinji's.

"I told you Emiya, I'm a magus!" Shinji crowed. He removed his hand and with a painful grinding sound the bone sword retreated into his arm. "You should be thanking me for not killing you! Regardless, you won't be able to move like this. Just stay down and I might let you live." He stepped back and Shirou fell numbly to the floor clutching his bleeding stomach and groaning.

"No, sempai!" From the door, Sakura cried as she saw Shirou collapse. "Nii-san, please don't!" Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'll go with you, just don't kill him!"

"Heh, about time you learned your place." Shinji calmly walked over to her and unleashed a powerful backhand, whipping her head to the side. She let out a gasp of pain, but otherwise didn't move. "Now come. Assassin should be holding off Saber right about now, so don't even think about trying to run."

"I… I won't." Sakura said.

"Good, good! Perhaps you're not so useless after all. But it doesn't matter! After grandfather is done using you, I'll be the only Matou left to inherit the family!" He laughed, even as he shoved open the door. Sakura numbly followed. She looked back one more time at Shirou's prone form.

Fighting back pain, he raised his head from the floor. "Sa…ku…ra…" He groaned.

Blinking back tears, she smiled an empty smile. "Thank you Sempai. Thank you for letting me believe I could be saved."

And the door shut out her figure from Shirou's eyes. Even as he screamed at his bleeding body to move, the world slowly… turned… black…


	21. Chapter 19

**I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

Readers, please know that there is a scene in this chapter that contains explicit sexual content. If you do not want to read that scene, feel free to skip it as it is completely optional and does not have to be read. It will be clearly marked.

* * *

><p>Chapter 19: Subversion<p>

Tears. Flowing down her cheeks. Numb. Walking. Familiar scenery passing by. Darkness, the sun gone.

"Hurry up. Walk faster already." The irritated voice of her brother came from behind.

Something prodded her back sharply, and she responded by speeding up her shuffle slightly.

There was no reply save for the cessation of the prodding. An acceptance.

Silence. Almost endless, with more walking as the only thing to break up the monotony.

"This is your fault." Shinji suddenly spoke again. "You could've prevented this, but you chose not to."

She stumbled across a nonexistent gap in the pavement. His only response was to push her forward again.

"Don't slow down. I want to get this over with. The sooner we get back the sooner I'll be rid of you for good."

Of course. He had said so himself. Her time was limited.

"It's a fucking shame, though." Shinji said, and she heard a ting of sick glee from his voice. "I'm probably going to miss you."

Her heart skipped a beat? What? What did he say?

"After all, once you're gone I'll have to find myself a new little toy." A laugh. Sickeningly disappointed, as if he had lost a toy, yet at the same time relishing the chance to get another one, he laughed.

She hung her head. Of course, she had been foolish to think she would be missed.

"Hurry up. If we arrive soon enough, Grandfather might let me use you one more time before you're his for good." He continued.

She paused in her step for a single moment.

"What?" He shoved her forward until she started walking again. "Why the hesitation? When you used to be so eager…"

"I wasn't-"

"Shut up. Did I say you could speak?" He hissed. "It's him, isn't it? Emiya?"

She didn't nod, but she didn't need to. He already knew. "Of course you'd fall in love with that useless moron. He's the only one stupid enough to actually want you around. Well, it's a shame he'll have to die too, I suppose." He said.

"Ah-" Sakura froze at the implications of her brother's words, but he sharply pushed her and she kept walking. "S-Sempai… why, Nii-san? He's not-"

"He's involved just as much as you are!" Shinji roared. The sudden loud noise made Sakura jump in surprise. "That idiot's a Master! Him, a Master, yet the Grail didn't see fit to choose me! No, it chooses weak little girls and talentless idiots over me! Well now he's my enemy, and he'll get no mercy from me!"

"But-"

"What? You want me to let him live?" Shinji sneered. "Why should I? What's in it for me?"

They stopped. The looming Matou House stood in front of them. In the light of the street lights it seemed old and rotten, even though it had been recently redecorated. They had arrived at their destination.

Shinji pushed Sakura forward, until he was within arm's reach of the door. With a huff he fished around in his pockets for the key, but eventually out of frustration he simply bashed the door open. It flew open, the lock broken and the hinges creaking. Once more Sakura's brother displayed inhuman strength, as if it was natural to him.

"Get in." Sakura entered the house, resigned to her fate. No, the only thing she could be worried about was the life of Emiya Shirou. If Assassin could infiltrate the Emiya house so easily, Shirou could die at any moment. His life lay in Shinji's hands.

"Nii-san, please!" She begged. She threw away her nonexistent pride and begged. "Don't kill him. He's a good person, he won't-"

"I don't care." Shinji replied. "Emiya is but a stone on my path. Nothing more, nothing less. Why would a human care about a cockroach? Why would a magus care about a mundane, talentless, washout? I don't need a reason to have him killed." He smiled, suddenly. "But… I might find a reason not to kill him."

"…huh?" Sakura blinked through her tears. Was this… real? Was her brother truly showing mercy? No, it had to be a trick. There was no way… but… could it be true? Against all odds… would her wish be granted? "R-really?"

"Well, I said I might find a reason." Shinji licked his lips hungrily. "So then… convince me."

"Well, he's your friend, and-"

"I don't think you understand what I'm saying." Shinji replied. With a single hand he loosened his belt, and his pants fell to the floor.

"Get on your knees… and convince me."

WARNING. LEMON AHEAD. SKIP IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ.

"Ah…" Sakura recoiled from the sight of Shinji's obvious erection. The lump in his underwear was quite plainly visible. "You don't mean…"

"On. Your. Knees." Shinji repeated. "Unless you don't care about that stupid sempai of yours…?"

Sakura's legs gave way. She found herself kneeling at waist height, staring directly into her brother's crotch. _No. I don't want to. I refuse. This isn't…_

"Well? There is a time limit to my offer…" Shinji said. "It's your choice. I won't force you." He grinned. Yes, everything would be of her own free will. And it would be ever so much sweeter that way.

"…" Hesitantly, Sakura's delicate hands came up, reaching for the visible erection in front of her face. Even as she trembled in disgust, they wrapped around Shinji's underwear, and pulled.

With a single movement his throbbing erection sprang free. Sakura hesitated for a long second, but steeled herself and moved once more.

One of her hands touched it. Shinji hissed at her cool touch, but otherwise didn't react, except to grow even larger. "Hurry up." He said.

The hand stroked him, from the tip to the base, its movement hesitant and awkward. Sakura looked at the organ before her, and as its smell reached her nose she frowned. But her fingernail traced a circle around the tip, this time using her index finger to stimulate it directly.

Then she grasped it. With a single hand she delicately clutched it, and began to move. Up, down, up, down. The slow but steady rhythm of her hand simply moving to and fro was maddening. Slow enough to not be a true stimulation, but just quick enough to keep it hard. "Faster." Shinji groaned. Sakura sniffed, but obliged. Her grip tightened, and the soft slapping of skin against skin could be heard as her hand sped up.

As Shinji held back moans of pleasure, Sakura's other hand snaked up, to the base of Shinji's throbbing member. She circled the shaft, and her hand found its way to his duo of balls. Kneading them, her hands synchronised into a steady beat. Beads of sweat appeared on Shinji's skin, and drops of precum leaked from his tip.

Sakura wrinkled her nose. She moved her thumb over the tip of the glans, and dug her nail into it. She smeared the precum over the rest of his phallus, coating it in the sticky material. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

Her hands increased in speed, and with the lubricant covering his penis, the sound became wetter. The squishing and squelching of skin rubbing against skin was unmistakable, and had any other human being been in the house they would undoubtedly have heard every sound.

Shinji trembled, along with his member. Too good. It was times like this that reminded him of his sister's only useful skill, born from years of training. "Good." He croaked. "Now… use your mouth."

Sakura paused. The disgust on her face was obvious. "I don't think-"

"I didn't ask you to think!" Shinji decided to take matters into his own hands. He roughly grabbed the sides of his sister's head with both hands, and pulled towards him.

"!" Sakura's head lunged forward, and her lips made contact with his penis. Almost instantly she shut her mouth. The taste and smell seemed to have multiplied a thousand fold from her new position. She smelled sweat, and old remains of semen. Disgusting.

"I said… use your mouth." Shinji growled as the pumping of her hands ceased. "Or do you want him to die like a dog?"

"…" _Sempai… I'm sorry. _Sakura hesitantly opened her mouth once more. The thick rod swung freely in front of her as her hands dropped again. A single drop of sticky precum fell on her extended tongue.

"Take it all!" Shinji pulled again, and Sakura, caught off guard, took half of his length inside her mouth before she could stop. Almost immediately she began to choke, but Shinji's hands were like iron clamps, preventing her from pulling away. It was plainly clear. She only had one option.

A wet slurping sound could be heard as she finally reacted to the _thing _stuck in her mouth. Her tongue moved around Shinji's shaft, coating it with saliva and even more precum. He sighed in pleasure. "I've been saving it up." He said conversationally, as he moved his hands closer and farther, easing Sakura's mouth back and forth along his cock. "Haven't even washed it since the start of the war, ever since you left." He moaned, and pulled it even deeper, until his penis struck the back of Sakura's throat. She had to grab on to his legs just to keep from tipping over, and her muffled moan of pain was like music to his ears.

"Good… this is how it should be." He relaxed his hands, but the look on his face told Sakura everything she needed to know. She would have to do everything herself from now on.

The taste was too strong. The smell and taste of his sweat and skin was rancid, and she had to focus just to keep from vomiting. But still, she moved. First she let it leave her mouth until only the tip was inside, and then took it almost to the hilt in a single movement. Like a trained prostitute she sucked and slurped, worshipping the holy sword in her mouth. Every smelly drop of precum she licked off, until his wet and sticky member was dripping with her own saliva instead.

"Oh… faster…!" Shinji groaned. Sakura obliged, bobbing her head up and down, hands clutching her brother's legs just to stop her from falling. She licked and sucked, stimulating the tip and sides of the throbbing member, guiding it to pleasure with every movement.

One hand found its way back to Shinji's balls, kneading and fondling them as if trying to milk every last drop of their contents. The dual pronged attack struck, and Shinji himself felt weak in the knees.

Sakura moved even faster. Her lips were like a vacuum, not allowing any of Shinji's dick to leave the warm wet cave that was her mouth. Her tongue slithered like a snake, seeking all the weak points, stimulating every sensitive spot. She closed her eyes and blew hot air into the even hotter member, clamping her lips around it.

"Oh…. Oooohhhh!" Shinji was close. He felt climax coming, and readied himself for the upcoming ecstasy.

Sakura moved even faster now. Her neck muscles clenched as she sped up. Her mouth became nothing more than a whirling vortex of pleasure, bringing even the hardiest of members to climax.

Shinji was no different.

"TAKE IT AAAAAALL!" He cried, and pulled Sakura's head all the way.

"Grck!" She choked for real this time, as every inch of his shaft disappeared down into her mouth and down her throat. Her magic vanishing act was complete, and Shinji's dick throbbed, once, then twice, and with the third time it sprayed thick gluey cum into Sakura's mouth, covering the inside with a white coat of sperm.

He pulled out, and his second and third spurts shot into his surprised sister's face, leaving streaks of white across her once seemingly innocent features. She closed one eye as the trail of sperm led up to her hair, but the other remained open, tears streaming from it, leaving her to see one of the things she hated most in the world.

Her brother, laughing as the joy of domination spread through his hard member and dead heart.

LEMON END.

-Break-

"Here you go gramps, one useless bitch, just as you ordered." Shinji walked through the open door to the basement, entering the grand chamber below the Matou house. Sakura followed silently behind. "She might not be in the best condition, but she'll do anything you need."

The basement of the Matou was not an ordinary basement. It had no useless garbage, no old heirlooms, and no leaking pipes. Instead of a small, cramped room smelling of dust, the chamber was as large as two bedrooms stacked on top of each other, leaving it as more of a pit than anything. A staircase ran around the walls, leading from the door at the top to the floor at the bottom. Lining the walls themselves were dozens of holes, each barely large enough to fit a human body. Within them nothing could be seen but darkness.

But an observer wouldn't notice any of those things at first sight. Instead, their eyes would instantly be drawn towards the center of the room, where a sight grotesque enough to horrify any human being occurred every day, constantly.

Worms. Worms everywhere. Writhing all over the floor, thousands of them, crawling all over each other, and giving the entire ground level a look of absolute decay and death. And they weren't ordinary worms either. Thick at the tip, with a sharp teardrop shape, these things were bigger than a man's thumb and twice as thick. The tiny rows of teeth in their thin mouths only served to express how disgustingly _wrong _these creatures were.

Shinji didn't flinch. He addressed the squirming mass, as if it could somehow reply to him. "Well, grandfather? Good enough for the successor to the Matou name?"

And reply it did. In the center, where the amount of worms was greatest, a figure rose, almost seeming to build itself up out of several of the boneless creatures. After several seconds a small patch of ground in the center cleared, revealing the wizened body of an old, old man. Bald, with skin that had more wrinkles than not, he seemed remarkably out of place in such a disgusting basement.

The old man opened his black eyes, and looked upon the face of his grandson.

"Hoh?" He chuckled. Coming from the old man's rotting frame, even that simple movement seemed to make him shudder. "So you succeeded after all? Congratulations for surpassing my expectations."

Sakura trembled. She alone found fear in this desolate room. But the two others ignored her. After all, what attention would they pay to a simple tool?

"Tch, of course." Shinji said. "Don't tell me you thought I would fail?"

"Perhaps." Matou Zouken murmured. "Indeed, not just anyone could move functionally after surviving what you did. That you are standing here before me in such a good condition speaks much of your latent talents." A mass of worms formed next to him. "Bring it here."

Shinji nodded, then abruptly pushed his sister off of the narrow staircase, letting her fall the few meters to the bottom of the basement. Her shriek only lasted a second before she was engulfed by worms. In moments nothing could be seen of Matou Sakura save for a few flashes of cloth. No sounds came from where she had fallen, but the thick mass of worms crawled towards the far wall, moving upwards until it was in the center of the wall itself.

And then it cleared away, revealing Sakura's figure. The worms had wrapped around her limbs, elongating and becoming ropes binding her to the wall. She gulped, but didn't dare open her mouth to scream.

No, in the first place, screaming would do her no good here.

"Good, good." Zouken nodded slowly. "Now then, grandson, it is time. In a few moments they will be here, thanks to your failure to finish off Emiya Shirou. I suggest you make yourself scarce."

Shinji shook his head. "No way. I want to see this with my own eyes." His eyes burned with a maniacal hate. "I'm not afraid of some half dead idiot."

Zouken huffed. "And why could you not have simply killed the Emiya boy then? Thanks to your failure to finish the job, he'll be here any minute."

"Are you going senile or something?" Shinji laughed. "There's no way I would've done that. In the first place, that idiot had the strongest Saber class as his Servant, while all I have is that ratty old Assassin you lent me." He threw a glare to an empty patch of wall. There was no reply, but it was to be expected that the master of Presence Concealment wouldn't be riled so easily.

"Anyway, if I finished off Emiya right there, his Servant would've sensed me and gone on a suicide run to take me down before she disappeared." Shinji explained. "But this way I've stalled both of them and gotten myself out alive too. Sorry, but you'd be crazy to expect me to risk my life just to kill some idiot Master."

"Tch, very well then. Your survival instinct is strong, that is going to serve you well in the future." Zouken finally said. "Then stay where you are and don't move. I'm going to start the… ritual. Whatever you do, make sure nothing interferes."

"Ah, but one more question." Zouken said before turning away. "Did you happen to see another person in the Emiya boy's home? She would have white hair, and red eyes. Fair skin, perhaps?"

Shinji shook his head. "Nope, just him, _her, _and Saber. Why, is this mystery girl important?"

"No, not at the moment, but this will make our work that much harder. We'll have to acquire the Original Lesser Grail separately to make the transfer of souls possible."

"Transfer of souls?"

"It isn't important."

"Tch, fine." Shinji shrugged. Like it was his business what that old man kept muttering about. As long as he got to be the Matou head in the end, it wouldn't matter. Eventually however, his gaze wandered back to his final obstacle impeding his progress. Matou Sakura. "Why is this so important anyway? What could you possibly want with _her_?" Shinji wondered.

"You'll know soon enough!" Zouken snapped. "Just be quiet and don't interfere. I've waited much too long for this already!" The old man turned away from his irritating grandson and faced the girl strapped to the wall. He twitched a finger and a great number of the worms on the floor gathered under his feet, bringing him to eye level with Sakura.

"Rejoice." He said. "The day where you fulfill your purpose is finally here."

"…" She shuddered, but after a moment that ceased. She smiled defiantly. "You're wrong, grandfather. I won't let you destroy this town. And I won't let you take control of me. Even if I am beyond saving, Sempai is not. I'll protect him!"

"Speak like that if you wish to." Zouken sighed. "What you think is irrelevant."

And his form collapsed, becoming nothing more than piles of wriggling worms, leaving Sakura alone, with only Shinji and the invisible Assassin for company.

But despite her grandfather's words, despite her brother's abuse, and even despite her own surrender, the fires of hope burned still in Matou Sakura's heart.

"No grandfather." She whispered, even as the worms swarmed around her, killing what little light she could glimpse. "You're wrong."

-Break-

"Shirou!"

_What? Is someone calling me?_

"Master! Please, get up!"

…_Saber? Why does she sound so worried?_

"Sakura is in danger!"

…_! Get up. Move. This is not time to be lying on the floor like this!_

Emiya Shirou opened his eyes, only to see another pair of bright green ones staring into them. He blinked, and instantly found himself crushed against a very warm chest, with two distinct bumps on either side of his head. Wait, were those…?

"…Saber?" He blinked once more. Was she… hugging him? "Why are you-" But before he could finish his sentence he found himself reclining against some soft cushions, with the blond haired girl kneeling in front of him. He noticed a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Master, hold still!" She ordered curtly. "You are badly wounded, and we need to treat this quickly!" She reached for his shirt, where he noticed a dark red stain, with a jagged hole torn open in the center. She paled, but grit her teeth and gingerly lifted the bloody shirt from Shirou's body. Beneath it the skin was torn, and copious amounts of blood leaked from the wound.

"Shirou…" She gulped. "You're lucky to be alive. Normally I'd say you should rest and not move, but considering how quickly you recovered against Berserker…"

"I'm not resting." Shirou choked out. "Saber, regardless of how bad this thing is, we need to go, now. Sakura's in trouble, you said so yourself. I can't afford to be lying around like this." He trembled with exertion as he tried to force his body up.

"No!" Saber firmly pushed him back down again. "There is a difference between bravery and foolhardiness. You are right that we need to save Sakura, but going on a reckless attempt in your condition will bring you nothing but death."

"But…" He couldn't accept this. In his own home he'd been betrayed by his best friend and the girl… the girl he _loved_ had been taken from him. No, it didn't matter that he couldn't even stand. He'd rescue her even if his body died during the attempt. "I don't care." He growled. "I have to save her before it's too late. If I can't go, then I'll command you to rescue her and leave me here!"

Saber shook her head. "No, Shirou that is not a wise decision. What if the purpose of that person wounding you and taking Sakura was to draw me out so that Assassin could kill you while you were alone?" She narrowed her eyes. "I refuse to leave you alone. You are staying by my side until your wound heals, regardless of what your wishes are. I am not going to fail again today. And what about Ilya? Are you willing to leave her alone, vulnerable to an enemy attack?"

"Saber…" She was right. He understood this. Saber was absolutely correct. "…Please. Save her. I don't care if I die, but I won't let her…"

"_Thank you for letting me believe I could be saved."_

"Saber, you have to save her."

"…Shirou, I will, but first we must take care of your wound. You're not thinking this through enough." Saber retrieved a roll of bandages from the nearby first aid kit, and began to bandage Shirou's wounds. "It is unlikely that they will kill her, not when the Matou are Sakura's family." She continued. "We will wait until tomorrow, then together with Rin and Lancer we will attack together. There is no reason to take any unnecessary risks." She looked Shirou in the eyes, and her hard gaze softened. "Do you understand, Shirou?"

"…Yeah, I understand, Saber." The boy replied. To the Heroic Spirit in front of him, his eyes seemed to have become infinitely sadder. "And… I'm sorry."

Saber blinked. "What-"

"**Save her.**" Shirou spoke. But this time his voice was layered with inhuman power. The power… of a command spell. "**Save Sakura... please.**" As he said the words, one of the remaining two command spells on his hand glowed and vanished.

Saber stiffened. Her teeth clenched, she levelled a glare at her obstinate Master. In a moment, she sighed. "Very well then, my foolish Master, I suppose I shouldn't have underestimated the stubbornness of a man in love." As if remembering an old memory, she nodded slightly. Immediately afterwards, however, her glare returned full force. "But you will be coming along as well. I'm keeping you where I can see you at all times. And I suppose it's safe enough to leave Berserker's former Master alone, considering that Assassin is our only remaining enemy in the first place."

Saber straightened to her full height. She stretched out a hand to the boy on the floor, and for a moment he was reminded of their first meeting. It had been almost exactly the same, but instead of a cold and merciless expression, on Saber's face was a gentle smile of approval.

He preferred it this way.

"Come, Master. Let us save your princess."

-Break-

As the Master and Servant left the house, all was silent.

Save for the sound of a single person breathing.

A delicate young girl, her hair like spun silver threads, and her skin as pale as snow, slept in a futon. She had not moved for almost 24 hours, and her breathing had not changed in that time once.

But now, it quickened. Her chest rose and fell as finally a true breath entered her air starved lungs. Her body began to move as the magic holding it in stasis finally faded from the world.

Ilyasveil von Einzbern opened her eyes, only to see an unfamiliar ceiling.

"Where… am I?" This place was different. She had never been here before. "Berserker…" Her last memories before the endless sleep were of her strongest protector screaming in pain as that witch ordered him to attack his former Master. And after that, the strong grip of an emotionless man in a suit.

She had lost.

Against Caster, of all people. She had failed as a Master, and as a Grail.

But… she was alive. And she could feel no traces of Caster's magic flowing through her body.

Had it been so long?

She tried pushing herself up, but her weak hands could barely move, and it took all of her strength just to lift one arm a few inches into the air. No, she wouldn't be doing anything until her strength returned.

"…This room… smells like… Onii-chan." The smell of his blood, to be precise. Days, possibly even weeks old. Old enough that Emiya Shirou's smell could cover the entire room. "Did he… save me?"

Certainly explained her situation. But still something wasn't right. "Why? I tried to kill him…"

No, perhaps he was going to use her, just like the Einzberns had planned to? Would he try to force her to fulfill the original purpose she had been given?

She shuddered. No, she didn't want that.

Suddenly, a noise broke through her thoughts. A new presence in her empty prison.

The door opened, revealing someone she had never seen in her life. But with one glance she realized it.

This person… could not by any stretch of the world be called normal. No, the aura, the glowing radiance, the sheer fear she felt just by looking… a formidable opponent.

The enemy grinned.

"How interesting."

-Break-

"They are here."

Shinji blinked his eyes open in response to Assassin's sentence. He yawned, then slowly stood up, leaning against the basement wall for support. "Finally." He yawned once more. "I was starting to think he'd wait until tomorrow, when it would already be too late." He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and turned to the opposite wall of the basement.

Still strapped to the crumbling stone lay his sister, yet in the scant hour that she'd been there her appearance had changed drastically. The once bright flame of defiance in her eyes had been lowered to a bare glimmer, and she seemed sunken and weak, as if the 'ritual' was draining all of her energy. As well, her clothing was somehow rotting away, falling apart as if from old age.

Shinji didn't particularly care.

"So how long is this going to take?" He asked.

"Another half hour, and her will shall be completely broken." His grandfather's voice came from the vicinity of the wall. In seconds the worms had swarmed, forming another body for the old man. "All you have to do is take care of the Emiya boy, me and Assassin will be able to disable Saber by ourselves."

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Shinji asked. "I know I'll be fine, but Assassin is even more pathetic than Rider was. And from what you told me Saber is supposed to be the strongest class. And you're telling me you can beat her?"

"Hehehe, don't underestimate this old man." Zouken cracked a rotten smile. "The Matou family magecraft is powerful, as you shall understand when you inherit it. We have a few tricks left that even a Saber class Servant must beware. And while Assassin may be weak, like me, he is exceptional when it comes to staying alive."

"Matou family magecraft?" Shinji raised an eyebrow. Magecraft that would enable his feeble grandfather to fight an inhumanly powerful Servant?

"It shall be yours one day, provided you survive this war." Zouken said. "Now then, you might want to bring our guests down to the basement."

As he said those words, Shinji heard the ring of a doorbell at from upstairs. "What an idiot." He muttered even as he climbed the stairs. "Actually knocking on the door of the people he's fighting. It's a miracle Emiya's lived this long with that kind of mindset."

"Actually, nevermind." Zouken said. "They are already here."

"Wait wha-"

_THOOOOM_

Shinji's sentence was cut short as the basement door literally blew open, knocking the blue hair teenager back into the mass of worms. The squishy bodies broke his fall, but it took Shinji a moment to get back to his feet.

He looked up. The basement door and most of the wall around it was no more. Nothing remained save for a few splinters. In its place stood two people, ready and prepared to fight for their loved one.

"Tch, you just don't know when to quit, do you, Emiya?" Shinji spat.

The taller figure held out a hand, and a bow materialized in it, along with a half dozen arrows. "No, I guess I don't." Emiya Shirou said. "And that's why, even if I have to fight you, I'll take her back!" He looked at the rest of the basement, and growled when he saw Sakura's pitiful state. Barely moving clothes falling apart, she looked half dead. This could be called something that offended everything Emiya Shirou believed in. "Shinji, this time, I won't hold back." As he raised bow to his shoulder and prepared to fire, from behind him a glowing being of light leapt straight past Shinji, her sword poised to slash apart the prison of worms holding her target.

"As if you could ever hurt me!" Shinji roared, and leapt towards Shirou. The taller boy released two arrows in quick succession but Shinji simply let them bounce off his suddenly rock hard skin. With a growl he tackled Shirou through the basement door.

As he was pushed back, Shirou managed one last shout. "Saber!" He ordered. "Protect Sakura! I'll handle Shinji, you kill Assassin!"

But even so, rescue would not be that simple even for a Servant. Saber flew like a brilliant comet through the air, but before she could strike, a flurry of dark projectiles shot towards her from every direction, and forced Saber to abandon her attempt. She spun in the air, and with a blast of wind the projectiles were blown away.

She landed on the ground in front of Sakura while at the same time keeping her eyes open for more attacks. In the gloom of the basement, every single shadow along the walls could have been her hidden enemy. Still, she wasn't worried. "Assassin, show yourself!" She cried, but the masked killer's only response was to hurl another dagger towards Saber's face.

She caught it deftly with one hand. "Fine, then I shall oust you from your hiding place!" She flipped the knife and deftly threw it back to its point of origin, where a black wrapped hand grabbed it from the air.

"Heh, so even with an advantage of area, I still cannot compete with you, the strongest Servant." Assassin chuckled as his Presence Concealment faded. His dark form appeared once more, and his pale white mask made him look like a spectre in the dark basement. "But Saber, do not overestimate your abilities."

He jumped off the wall, even as Saber launched herself towards him, smashing the old stone open with a hammer like blow. As he flew through the air he let out 3 knives at once, and they shot towards Saber like bullets. She twisted in the air, lashing out with her free hand, stopping all three knives by deflecting them using her superior armour.

"If this were a game of chess, you would be a queen, and I a mere bishop." Assassin retreated once more into the darkness, leaving Saber hanging with one hand on the wall, and the other holding her still invisible blade. "But Saber…" Assassin's voice came from everywhere. Saber couldn't hear where he was speaking from.

"I may be weaker, but unlike you, I have an ally."

"!" Saber instinctively jumped backwards off the wall, as it seemed to writhe and melt. A second later, her instincts told her, and she would've lost a great deal of prana healing from serious wounds. "What trickery is this?" She hissed, even as she landed upon the ground once more.

"Hohoho, do not underestimate the power of a magus in his workshop." From the mass of worms rose Matou Zouken, once more leaning on his cane for supports. "Come then, Saber. Surely you won't fall against an old man?" The wriggling floor rose up, and as a whole the mass of worms moved to swallow the Servant of the Sword in one fell swoop.

"I don't understand… your magic should be useless!" Saber swept her sword around and vaporized the mass of worms trying to climb onto her feet, but more crawled swiftly out of the walls, replenishing their fallen numbers. And even then as she defended her feet another knife flew towards her head, and only a timely dodge managed to avoid it. Still, she saw in slow motion as it shaved off a lock of her hair, almost rupturing her skin.

"Hehehe, my magecraft, yes, but my familiars will not be erased by your Magic Resistance." Zouken chuckled. Saber growled and shot towards him, slicing the old man in half with one slash, but his body reformed on the opposite side of the room, perfectly unharmed. "Attacking an old man in his home is the height of rudeness, girl." He said.

Saber narrowed her eyes. "You… cannot be called human anymore." She tightened her grip on her sword. "Regardless, I shall defeat both of you. Your stalling tactics may have bought you time, but eventually you shall fall."

"I could say the same for you." Assassin said, and threw even more knives at Saber from seemingly every direction. Still she spun in a circle, deflecting every single one with the wind from her sword. "Nevertheless, you shall not be leaving this place alive, Saber!"

"You're wrong. I'm leaving this place once you are dead!" Saber replied. "But I shall not do so without her! Sakura, hear me! We will save you!"

-Break-

_It hurts._

Matou Sakura's world was one of pain, and nothing else.

_It hurts._

She could not move, both from the inhuman pain flooding her body and the living bonds keeping her strapped to the wall.

_It hurts._

Why was this happening to her? Had she been cursed from birth? Had she sinned? Was this retribution for wanting to be saved?

_It hurts._

She couldn't remember if this was true. In fact, she could not remember much of anything save the endless agony coursing through her veins.

_It hurts._

Why did it hurt so much? Where was this pain coming from?

_It hurts._

Within her body, of course. As if on cue, millions of her cells spontaneously commited suicide, exploding and tearing apart her body from the inside.

_It hurts._

She tried to move, but the pain shot from unbearable to almost fatal as she moved. Her nerves burned, as if tiny teeth were chewing on them constantly.

_It hurts._

So she wouldn't move. She'd just let herself die. She would give up, and let her consciousness be erased.

_It hurts._

But… this situation seemed familiar. Had she ever experienced something like this before?

_It hurts._

No, she most definitely would have remembered such an occasion. But… how could she remember anything but pain?

_It hurts._

There was something happening in front of her. Sakura's ears could not hear a word, but her eyes still functioned. She saw two people break the door, allowing sweet, painful light to enter. Ah, light… It hurt, too.

_It hurts._

And now the bright girl was fighting with the shadows. But why? What could that girl possibly gain?

_It hurts._

Ah, she was saying something .What were those words? She knew those movements. That word was…

_Sa-ku-ra._

Muscles moved. A body rippling with pain focused all of its energy into a single movement. She would escape. She would break free, and take her happiness from the jaws of death.

She would live.

She would… live…

She… would…

Her body failed. The pain was too much. She would never be able to break free from these bonds by herself. In fact, she was succumbing, ever so slowly. Soon, she would not be able to mount even that feeble resistance against that overwhelming torture.

But still, her hand had moved, just a bit. One squeeze, one twitch, as her right hand closed into a fist.

She squeezed.

Once.

Twice.

And then… no more.

-Break-

The ground shook.

Rock shattered and broke under the terrifying swinging of an invisible blade.

A petite girl wearing heavy blue armour duelled a shadowy reaper and an old wizened man in an underground basement.

Assassin was like a shadow indeed. None of Saber's strikes could hit him. Always at the last second he would throw a knife and run while she dealt with it, or Zouken would launch another wave of prana sucking worms to buy time for her opponent to run.

Zouken, by comparison, was untouched. No matter how many times her blade cleaved him apart he simple reformed in another part of the room. She had already grasped that he possessed no body, having become one with his worm familiars long ago.

And she herself was a storm, striking at everything yet unable to advance an inch in the cramped and cold basement. Surrounded by enemies, she fought and fought, but could not deal a decisive blow.

She did not know how Shirou's fight was progressing. She was simply glad that he had chosen to fight in a place other than the basement. With the way her own battle seemed to be going, it would have been even tougher to fight while having to protect her Master at the same time.

Still, while difficult, victory in this battle was far from impossible.

She flew through the air towards Assassin, deflecting the knives he threw with sheer armour capacity and momentum. She collided, however, with only empty wall, as the shadow had disappeared before she could impact. In seconds worms of all shapes and sizes had risen from the wall, forcing Saber to jump to a clear position on the floor to avoid being swamped. However, once more Assassin's position was hidden from her.

"Tch." It was irritating. To be fighting against such tricks yet still losing… she would have to escalate this, or be stuck even longer in a pointless stalemate. Yes, she would have to take a few risks.

Saber brought her sword forward, grasping the hilt tightly with both hands. "Assassin." She declared. "I've had enough of this farce of a battle. If you will not show yourself, then I shall have to locate and destroy you with my own power!" Wind seemed to gather in the center of the room, wrapping around Saber's sword. The veil that had hidden her valued blade finally loosened, granting a faint glimpse of the golden radiance within. The swirling wind tightened, forming around her sword in a literal green hurricane, causing her hands to shake simply from the tension of holding it.

"**Barrier of the Wind King…**" She spoke the true name of her Noble Phantasm. Even if she couldn't see or hit Assassin… he was still there! "I'll just have to hit everywhere at once! **Strike Air!**"

The wind burst. The golden light of her sword momentarily engulfed the entire room, banishing all of the shadows and darkness. At the same time, the winds spiralled outwards, blowing past the entire room, hitting everything other than Saber herself and Sakura, who she had personally excepted from the blow.

Like a hurricane it devastated the walls. All the worms in the room were tossed about like ragdolls, each pulverized completely. Zouken's body was ripped to pieces instantly.

The wind kept up for another few seconds, before Saber collapsed to the ground panting. "Shouldn't… have used… my Noble Phantasm… so early…" The veil of air covering her sword had disappeared, revealing a beautiful golden blade, churning with power and mystery. "But… he should be dead now. I need to… save Sakura."

The force of Shirou's command spell forced Saber back to her feet. She couldn't sense Zouken or Assassin anywhere, and no worms remained in the room. "I must have killed them both." She nodded, satisfied. "None of them possess a way to counter a Noble Phantasm."

She moved towards Sakura's form, which had fallen to the floor in the chaos as the worms surrounding her hands died. The girl herself was unharmed physically, but the bruises covering her hands and feet were apparent. Her eyes were closed, but as Saber approached, they opened, and widened in surprise. Saber smiled weakly. "I am sorry that I could not stop this from happening, Sakura." Saber whispered, reaching towards the girl. "But don't worry, I'll save you-"

"No, you won't."

_SHUNK_

Saber gasped as she felt a dagger enter her back, finally striking a critical blow against her. She turned, and finally saw Assassin, standing unharmed behind her. "You… how…?" Her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground, the ugly dagger sticking out from her back like a sore thumb. She coughed, and specks of blood hit the floor.

"I warned you, Saber." He spoke. To Saber's failing eyes he seemed to waver in and out of existence. The only thing she could consistently see was his bone white mask. An expressionless killer, perfectly secure in his victory. "Yet once again you underestimated me. Assuming that I would fall to such an attack was sheer arrogance, and also your downfall. However, I must praise you nonetheless. Even though you had no idea I was there, you instinctively twisted your body so that I would miss your heart."

She also noticed a muffled crash from beside Assassin, as a body hit the floor with a thud.

A boy with blue hair calmly walked down the stairs. She noticed some bloodstains on his hands, and his clothes seemed to be roughed up significantly. However, he was unhurt, compared to the boy she recognized as Shirou.

He coughed, and pushed himself up. "D-damnit." He choked. Saber hissed as she noticed his wounds. Torn clothing, bruises on almost every visible part of his skin. Patches of blood in his clothes, where he had been stabbed. One eye was swollen shut, and his lip had been split. "Shinji… you-"

"What?" Shinji laughed. "You actually expected to win a second time? With that wound in your stomach? You were moving ever slower than the first time! Beating you was easy, Emiya!"

Shirou growled, but couldn't even push himself to his feet.

"Shirou… I've failed." Saber whispered. "I'm… sorry…" Tears pooled beneath her eyes. Not again. Not another failure. Wasn't she a knight? Wasn't she supposed to save the princess?

"It was inevitable." Zouken's voice came from Assassin's left. "You may be powerful, but power is nothing without knowledge. I have been watching you for days now. I knew every one of your weaknesses, so obviously I'd be able to craft a plan that would defeat you."

"Master, which one should die first?" Assassin asked. He reached for his wrapped up hand with his good one. "Name which, and I shall have their heart."

"Hm… the boy sounds good." Zouken said. "If you kill him Saber will disappear…"

"Eh, could we not?" Support, had come, but it was not from the place Shirou had expected it.

"Can't you have him kill Saber instead?" Shinji scratched the back of his head. "Emiya's an idiot, but he's one we can use. I'll have him swear a geas to be my slave and keep this secret for the rest of his life, so there's no need to have him dead."

"…fine." Zouken sighed. "It is good that you are learning so quickly, I suppose. A magus with such a unique origin shall make a fine servant for you. Assassin, take Saber's heart."

"With pleasure." Assassin spoke. Saber imagined that underneath his mask his face was set into a maniacal grin. He swiftly undid the knot that bound his club of a hand, revealing his only Noble Phantasm.

The arm that unfurled from his shoulder was most definitely not human. Pure red, like freshly spilt blood, it stretched to twice the length of an ordinary man's body, and ended in a gigantic clawed hand perfectly suited for tearing flesh.

The arm of a demon.

"Saber…" Saber turned her head to the side, and saw Shirou. He had managed to turn himself enough to meet her eyes. "I'm… sorry for everything. I've failed you as a Master, and as a friend."

She smiled, truly, for what felt like the first time in her life. "I forgive you, Shirou."

The hand extended to its maximum length, reaching for Saber's heart. Her armour disappeared as all of her prana went into keeping her alive even with her crippling wound.

The hand reached her chest, and began to dig its fingers into her flesh.

Saber closed her eyes.

Assassin's mask seemed to twist into a demonic grin as he spoke the last words she would ever hear.

"**Zabinaya: Delusional Heartbea-**"

"Shut up you fucking sandworm!"

A crimson bolt of light intercepted the demonic arm, as the curse of sure death was overpowered by one many times stronger. Zabinaya collapsed as the red spear of impaling barbed death impaled it and stuck it to the ground.

As Assassin screamed in pain, Zouken and Shinji both backed up in surprise. Shinji whirled, looking frantically around the room for the new assailant. Finally his gaze settled on the door to the basement, which had been blown open some minutes ago.

Standing in the blinding light was a man.

Blue hair, blue jumpsuit, and crimson red eyes. Lancer laughed cheerfully at the sound of his opponent's screams. He lightly leapt down the steps and walked over to his spear, which was still stuck in Assassin's hand.

"Don't be stealing my kills."

With a single movement he grabbed onto the lance and tore it out of the ground, as well as out of Assassin's hand. "And furthermore, don't you dare kill the person I've sworn to fight against." His eyes hardened, and he glared at Assassin. For a single moment the red eyes of the reaper looked into the hidden eyes of the shadow.

They were found wanting.

"For that, you're getting the death sentence."

A single swing, and the struggling killer's head flew through the air as his body collapsed. In one blow the Assassin had been killed by an infinitely superior opponent. Lancer didn't even bat an eye as the opponent that had given Saber so much trouble died like a worm.

He turned his gaze to Shinji, who was so frozen in fear that he hadn't moved an inch during Lancer's improvised execution. "And you."

"…You're annoying." Another swing to the neck, and Shinji collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Lancer had used the back of the spear to attack, sparing the boy a fatal blow.

He looked at Shirou and Saber, then finally at Sakura. As he took in their wounds, his grin faded, until all that remained was a grim frown where his smile should've been.

"Idiots. I'd respect going to save the princess recklessly like that, but if you want to be heroes, at least do a better job." Was all he said.

Finally he looked at the least threatening figure in the room. Matou Zouken stood alone, defeated, where mere seconds ago he had been standing a winner.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself, old man?" Lancer idly spun Gae Bolg, tapping it against the ground. "You'd better speak up, or you'll be getting the same treatment as your Servant."

"…How." Zouken's face twisted in anger. "HOW? You had no way of knowing! I made sure to send Shinji in after you left! You had no connection to them, so how is it that you knew to come here?" His tiny body shook from the force of his own words, as if it could fall apart from a stiff breeze.

"Heh, you probably think you had us all figured out." Lancer chuckled. "But you didn't underestimate me, or Saber, or even the kid over there. Your plan was perfect, except for one thing." He pointed his lance back, towards the girl lying on her back and staring with closed eyes towards the ceiling. "You underestimated your own granddaughter."

"…What?" Zouken stiffened. "Impossible. She couldn't have done anything with that kind of pain going through her body…"

"Way back when we met." Lancer said. "I gave her a tiny pebble engraved with a rune for tracking. I told her to use it whenever she needed help. Sounds to me like you should've noticed her activating it."

"Runes… you bastard!" Zouken screamed in anger. "Fine! If that's the case then I'll admit it! You beat me! But it doesn't matter! I'll do it all myself! I'll take her, and I'll take the Lesser grail as well! You won't stop me!"

His body shook, but this time not in anger. It literally fell apart into a mass of worms with no human form. At the same time dozens, hundreds, and thousands of worms crawled out of the walls, dropping down into the room. Several screamed and sprouted insect wings, adding a buzzing to the noise of wet flopping. The bugs buzzed angrily, circling the spearman standing calmly in the center of the room.

Zouken's voice was heard one more time, seeming to come from everywhere in the room at once. Shirou and Saber blinked in surprise as the mass of bugs oozed a powerful prana signature.

"You may have won this round, but you'll never kill me! I have no body, and no heart for your cursed spear to hit! I will survive!"

"No, you won't." Lancer sighed. "Really, I don't like killing old men much more than I like killing women, but I'll make an exception for a pest like you."

He lifted his spear into the air with one hand, lightly grasping it. "I will end your miserable existence here, Matou Zouken." He closed his eyes serenely.

"Die, Lancer!"

"No, you die!" Lancer's eyes shot open, and a heavy cursed magical energy flooded the room, all emanating from the spear in Lancer's hands. He opened his eyes, and once more the curse he bore shined through them.

Death was here, and it would claim life once more.

"**Gae Bolg!**"

_SHUNK_

Like before, the same sound of a person being stabbed echoed throughout the room.

All of Zouken's worms froze, and immediately fell to the floor, dead, as the heart controlling them all was pierced. Zouken's voice had similarly vanished, along with the curse resonating throughout the room.

But as well, both Shirou and Saber held identical expressions on their faces.

Horror.

Lancer himself stood in the center of the room. His hand was outstretched and holding on to Gae Bolg.

It had found its target, and killed it without fail.

But the expression on his face was not one of joy, but of disbelief. Of angry, desperate denial.

"No." He whispered.

But yes, the sight before his eyes was most certainly the truth.

Gae Bolg sank into flesh, having finally pierced its target.

"Ah…"

Sakura had finally opened her eyes.

"It… doesn't hurt anymore." She smiled.

"I'm glad. Sempai… thank you for saving me."

And her eyes closed for the last time, as Matou Sakura died with a smile on her face and a spear through her heart.


	22. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 20: Failure<p>

_The man jumped backwards, away from the spear approaching his neck. Cu Chulainn growled, and pushed his tired feet to their limit, jumping forward and up, not allowing his enemy to escape from the battle!_

_The other man's eyes widened as he grasped his opponent's plan, and he wildly swung with his cracked and chipped sword in mid air, seeking to slow down Cu Chulainn. But the spearman wouldn't be deterred so easily!_

_The man once known as Setanta easily deflected the sword upwards with his own blade, and lunged forward, finally close enough to strike. He thrust the spear in his hands towards his opponent's heart, but the other man twisted in the air, and instead of being skewered the spear merely scratched his ribcage._

_Both men landed off balance, and the swordsman recovered first, charging through the freezing waters of the stream and aiming to strike a killing blow on his crippled enemy. He brought down his great sword with both hands to cleave Cu Chulainn's head open._

_But before he could do so, the spearman swung upwards with his own spear, scattering droplets of freezing water in the air, and for a single moment obscuring his form. The swordsman's weapon halted for a fraction of a second as its wielder tried to find his enemy, but eventually continued as he ascertained Cu Chulainn's location. However, the swordsman's blade cut through nothing but air as his enemy used the moment of hesitation to his advantage._

_The swordsman spun, and slashed wildly behind his body with one hand, but by then it was already too late. The ferocious spearman struck perfectly, hitting the small, non armoured part of his opponent's back._

_The swordsman let out a grunt, and toppled forward into the river as he felt the sharp jab from behind. His head was forced underneath the rushing water by the force of the blow._

_He coughed and sputtered, and despite his supposedly crippling wound he whirled, switching hands and slashing backwards with his sword. Cu Chulainn almost didn't manage to dodge, but escaped with only a slash across his thin chest armour. A few drops of blood stained the icy waters red, but the current washed any traces of the injury away in seconds._

_On the other hand, the swordsman himself was uninjured. The stab to the back had penetrated his armour, but his rocky, stone-like skin had stopped the entire blow. The spear hadn't even been able to pierce._

"_Oy, this is getting ridiculous!" Cu Chulainn growled. "I stabbed you in the back. At the very least you shouldn't be able to move!"_

"_Can't you... remember?" The other man panted, trying to regain his stamina during the brief period of rest. "I told you at the beginning of this duel... no weapon other than your greatest will be able to pierce my skin. You dishonor me by fighting with such a weak spear, Setanta. Do you only believe me now that you've finally managed to strike me after 3 days of battle?"_

"_I thought you were joking." Setanta muttered, a faint blush of embarrassment rising in his cheeks._

_The other man frowned. "This is no joke. Come, surely you must be tired and hungry, o great warrior? If you can finish this battle then by all means do so, and eat yourself to death afterwards!"_

"_Tch, fine." Cu Chulainn sighed. "Láeg, pass _it_ to me!" He called back, away from the burly swordsman, and he heard the whinnying of a horse and an affirmative statement from up river. "There. Are you happy, Ferdiad? They're sending it down now. Your blood is the first that this spear will taste." He said bitterly._

"_Yes, I'm happy." His enemy and friend replied, but his eyes held only sadness. "I'm glad that you at least respect me enough to go all out. But don't think that you'll win. This is just so that later, when you're lying on your bed and healing from your wounds, I can tell everyone about how you couldn't even put a scratch on me!" Ferdiad grinned, suddenly, and all the weariness in his eyes disappeared like shadows in the sun. "Now come, let us fight, old friend!"_

_Cu Chulainn smiled back. For a moment, he forgot his situation. He forgot that he was fighting for his country. He forgot his own rage and the blood he had spilt just to get that far. He forgot that his duel was to the death, and that one of them would most certainly not walk away from it._

_As his spear slammed into Ferdiad's sword, all Cu Chulainn remembered was home._

_The two friends continued their gruelling duel as the sun slowly sank beneath the horizon. It was the evening of their three days of fighting, and both felt themselves slowing down._

_Cu Chulainn stabbed upwards towards Ferdiad's face, and the swordsman replied by knocking away the spear with his right hand and slashing away with his left, holding his sword. The spearman barely defended by quickly switching the angle he held his spear, and the steel blade of his opponent's weapon bounced off the wooden bottom of Cu Chulainn's. The wood cracked and shattered, but it had slowed down the opponent's sword enough for the agile spearman to escape and retreat to a safer distance._

"_This is getting nowhere." Ferdiad snorted. "What's wrong, brother? You're slowing down. Are you too tired to move? Do you wish for me to prepare a stretcher?" He sneered._

"_I'm taking pity on you." Cu Chulainn spat back. "Giving you the chance to feel like you could actually beat me before I kill you for good."_

"_Oh? Then I'll take it and slay you so I don't have to hear your inelegant blabbering anymore!" Ferdiad charged from his defensive position and swung downwards towards his enemy's head, and the spearman danced back to avoid it, thrusting forward with his lance simultaneously. The two weapons clashed, and immediately separated as their wielders continued their offensive._

_Cu Chulainn thrust and Ferdiad parried. The swordsman swung, and the spearman dodged. The dance of death grew more frantic and unbalanced as the warrior's weapons began to break down under the pressure, but neither one of the combatants slowed down._

"_Ha!" The spearman leapt over Ferdiad's clumsy thrust and stabbed downwards towards his opponent's head. But Ferdiad just grinned, looked up, and grabbed the cracked tip of Cu Chulainn's spear with his diamond hard teeth. He swung upwards from his thrust, and Cu Chulainn pushed off, flying once more through the air and landing behind his friend, back to back._

"_...hey, Setanta." Ferdiad panted, trying to regain his breath. "Why are we fighting?"_

_Cu Chulainn's frown went unseen by his friend. "For our countries, obviously. You're Connacht, I'm Ulster. We're bound to be enemies."_

"_No, that's not why." Ferdiad said. "We're fighting because my queen wanted to steal some grass munching bull from your king, and you decided to stop her entire army by challenging them in single combat to the death."_

"_And? What difference does it make?" Cu Chulainn snorted. "That's just some convenient excuse. I'm fighting because it's fun, and I get to kill some Connacht soldiers."_

"_...it makes all the difference." Ferdiad said. "But I've said enough. You're right. It's fun to battle, so let's just hurry up and kill each other!"_

"_...hey, Ferdiad- !" Cu Chulainn was cut off as Ferdiad whirled and swung his sword wildly, forcing the spearman to duck underneath quickly. The blunted steel was sharp enough to shave a few stray hairs from his head, but he quickly recovered and jumped back, aiming to make more distance between him and his enemy._

"_Shut up and fight!" Ferdiad roared. He charged once more, but didn't swing, waiting instead for the distance between him and his opponent to shrink. Red flashed before his eyes and in the stream as blood from a dozen wounds flowed from his friend's body._

"_Fool!" Cu Chulainn brought his arm back, and threw his frail weapon at his charging enemy with expert timing. Normally such a move would be suicide, but against a defenceless enemy that wouldn't be able to deflect it, no other move would do._

_But Ferdiad was far from defenceless. Despite the fact the spear would most likely never pierce him Ferdiad brought up his sword and caught the tip of it on the flat of his blade. The force of the moving object pushed him back for a moment and he grunted as he flung the spear away. He grinned, and looked forward again at his now weaponless opponent._

_But Cu Chulainn was not there._

_The air suddenly grew heavy. Ferdiad stumbled and almost fell into the water from the sheer pressure he felt behind him._

_The swordsman slowly turned._

_Behind him, standing in a bestial pose, was his best friend and worst enemy._

_The spearman's eyes held no mercy and no regrets. In his hands was clutched a weapon coloured red for all the blood it would spill. Though water fell from its wet exterior, the crimson did not wash off. This spear would always be the colour of the blood it would inevitably spill._

_The killing intent was almost solid. Enhanced and amplified by the magical weapon in his hands, Cu Chulainn's rage was enough to freeze Ferdiad in place. The spearman glared, and brought the spear lower until the tip touched the surface of the roaring lake water._

_It may have been imagination, but for a moment Ferdiad saw not a man but a monster that could only kill. The harbinger of death that would find and tear out men's lives with its barbed grip._

_The cursed spear of striking death flight._

"_**Gae..."**_

"_Ah..." Ferdiad moved to try and stop the inevitable strike. He was prepared to block any blow from that cursed lance._

"_**Bolg!"**_

_Ferdiad stiffened as he felt a cold sensation enter his body. He choked, and coughed out blood that was quickly washed away by the stream. He looked down, and..._

_It wasn't there. Why wasn't there anything in his chest? He could feel the pain in his heart, but there was not a single blemish on his horny skin._

_No, wait. There it was. Ferdiad could only watch as, in slow motion, the red spear was thrust forward, and bent, moving upwards towards his heart. He saw the weapon bend and twist, moving not forward but around. Instead of piercing his front, it would stab through his back. An unblockable move, an unstoppable force, and an unbeatable attack._

_Ferdiad's skin would not be pierced by any weapon. It was like a castle wall carved from powerful stone. Cu Chulainn could try to stab Ferdiad for months on end and he would never be able to inflict a single wound upon the man whose skin could not be pierced by any weapon._

_But every stone had a tiny, microscopic fault in its pure interior. And the swordsman's skin was no different. The spear sought out the hidden weak point, searching for the place it could pierce. And inevitably, as if guided by fate itself, it stabbed through a single point of his back and penetrated Ferdiad's heart._

_With that final blow, the three day battle ended._

_Ferdiad collapsed as he felt his body's torn muscles stop responding. Cu Chulainn caught the fallen warrior in his hands, devoid of cursed weapons. The demonic red spear still sprung from Ferdiad's back like a testament to victory or an assured symbol of death._

"_Setanta..." Ferdiad coughed, and blood fell from his mouth and into the rushing water. His vision wavered, and his numb body wouldn't move. "Is it over?"_

"_Yeah." Setanta nodded. "It was a good fight, my friend. I enjoyed it."_

_Ferdiad chuckled weakly. "So did I, brother. But... I didn't want it to be like this."_

"_What do you mean?" Cu Chulainn responded. He couldn't bring himself to yell at his friend's dying words, but he couldn't stop himself from questioning them. "Wasn't this an excellent battle? Aren't you dying like a man? What more can you ask for?"_

"_...I know that." Ferdiad whispered, quieter than before. "And I'm glad it was you that killed me in the end. But Setanta... I didn't want to die like this. I didn't want to kill you, either, yet I walked here accepting that only those two outcomes were possible."_

"_That's how it is." The spearman replied, still holding his dying opponent in his arms. "There can't be two winners, Ferdiad. You know that."_

"_You're right." The dying swordsman admitted. "Yet... I could have done so many other things. I could have run. I could have denied the duel. I could have sided with you and betrayed my country. I could have easily made it so that neither one of us had to die here, yet I didn't."_

"_...you're wrong." Setanta said. It was difficult not to yell at his friend's words, but he managed it. "You couldn't have done any of those things. You're an honourable man that fights for his country. You would never do something like that."_

"_Exactly." Ferdiad whispered as his life drained away. "But brother, I've realized that I chose this path. I chose to become who I am today. I chose how I would die. Should I regret that? Should I regret becoming who I am? Should I regret choosing to die here?"_

"_No!" The spearman couldn't hold his voice back. "You made the right choice! It was simply fate that brought you here, nothing more! It wasn't a mistake to follow those beliefs!"_

"_I know that." Ferdiad chuckled again, and smiled weakly. "I will die here, happy to have lived by following my convictions. But Setanta... heed my words." His voice dropped past the normal hearing range of a human. It was only thanks to his divine blood that Cu Chulainn heard his friend's dying words._

"_If... you one day reach a choice that seems to have no options..." Ferdiad closed his eyes. "Ask yourself... if there is anything you would be willing to sacrifice to create a new choice for yourself. Ask yourself if it would be worth the sacrifice. Ask yourself if you would change... or if you would continue without regret down the path you chose for yourself. No matter what... we always... have... a choice..."_

_The heart wracked by cursed thorns finally stopped beating. Cu Chulainn held the still body of his friend in his arms, standing numbly, unable to understand Ferdiad's last words._

_He didn't cry. He didn't scream or yell or roar. He just looked down._

_The rushing river had been stained red with blood._

_His friend's body lay still, clutched in his bloody hands._

_Setanta blinked._

_The boy's body lay still, sprawled over the dirty, muddy ground._

_Cu Chulainn blinked._

The girl on the wall drew in one final breath, and her broken heart stopped beating. She had died with a smile on her face. The lance in her chest had stabbed through the wall, impaling her and keeping her hanging inches from the ground.

Lancer blinked. His hand fell from the spear, leaving it embedded in the wall.

"Sakura!" The redheaded boy forced his wounded body to its feet and stumbled over to the still body of Matou Sakura. He grabbed the crimson spear going through her chest and pulled, trying to get it out of her body. He grunted, however, and stopped as a fresh wave of blood flowed from his stomach wound.

Having realized the futility of his attempt, he instead turned towards Lancer, who hadn't moved since the realization that he'd killed an innocent girl.

"You!" Shirou roared, and threw himself forward. Lancer blinked once more, but stopped Shirou's mad punch with a single hand, almost as an afterthought. "How could you!" Shirou screamed, tears running down his cheeks as he angrily swung at the blue spearman. "She was innocent! She had nothing to do with this, and you just killed her!" Shirou's free hand glowed for a moment, and then a wooden sword formed in it. The youth swung the sword with one hand, aiming for Lancer's face.

Lancer caught it with his free hand, and crushed it between his fingers. It turned into sparkling, insubstantial gold dust before vanishing completely.

Shirou didn't let up. He formed more and more copies of his sword, swinging wildly and trying to blindly attack the person who had betrayed his trust. In seconds, however, after several of his copies had been effortlessly destroyed, he fell to his knees, unable to go on. "Why?" He whispered. "Why her? Why you?" He pulled himself up, and limped over to the dead girl, once more trying desperately to pull the red death from her chest.

Lancer raised his hand, and one of his fingers twitched. Instantly Gae Bolg faded into red particles and reappeared in his hands free of blood. He released it and it faded away, ready to be called back at any time.

Sakura's body fell from the wall, but Shirou was there to catch it. He cradled his dead lover in his hands, but could do nothing to restore her life. His face held only pure agony, but no tears flowed from his eyes.

Lancer watched the spectacle without moving. It was only when he felt the cold steel of a sword on his neck that he reacted.

He turned to see Saber barely standing with her heavy wound, but apparently still powerful enough to threaten him. She clutched her blade with both hands, holding it to Lancer's vital point.

"Explain." She said. "You have 5 seconds to tell me why I shouldn't take your head off right now."

"I didn't make a mistake." Lancer replied calmly. "I used Gae Bolg against Zouken, and it stabbed the girl instead. That's all that happened."

"All that happened? You killed her!" Saber growled. "And aren't you supposed to be a hero? How could you hit anyone other than the target with that spear? If what you said is true then the only way for this to have happened is for you to have either made a mistake or done it on purpose!"

Lancer frowned. "I didn't make a mistake." He repeated. "And the spear hit its target. I'm sure of it. Besides, Zouken is dead, isn't he? That means I was successful."

"...explain your reasoning." Saber said. She tightened her grip on her sword, and the edge of it sliced through the outermost layer of Lancer's skin, letting a single drop of blood fall to the floor.

"Gae Bolg will always strike the heart." Lancer said. "All I do is designating a target. Occasionally, if I want someone alive, I might be able to go for a non lethal wound, but it will automatically seek and hit the heart of the person I designate as my opponent."

"Then you did do it on purpose." Saber said. The sword cut deeper into Lancer's flesh, and the scratch became a small wound. Nowhere near lethal, but annoying nonetheless. "You killed that girl even after your own promise to protect her!"

"No. My target was, from the beginning, Matou Zouken." Lancer said. He sighed. "I only resorted to using my Noble Phantasm once it became apparent his heart was hidden in this room somewhere. Gae Bolg does not only target the biological heart; it can strike the metaphysical one as well." He pointed with his right hand towards the kneeling boy and the hole in the dead girl's chest. "Matou Zouken's heart and Matou Sakura's heart were one and the same. Thus, both were destroyed."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Saber said angrily. "You expect me to believe that this was just an unfortunate accident!"

"...yes." Lancer closed his eyes. "You know me, Saber. I would never consciously break a promise."

"Regardless of whether or not you meant to, the fact that your promise was broken remains true." Saber said. "And although I was led to believe you were a man I could trust..." She hesitated, but her unspoken words were plain. She would most likely never trust Lancer again.

"Ah!" The silence was interrupted by Shirou's scream. Both Servants turned, and saw him cradling Sakura's limp body to his own. But instantly they saw what had caused his scream.

A tiny, wriggling creature was poking out of the hole where the dead girl's heart had been. It was the size of a hand at most, and resembled a tape worm. But the palpable aura of prana it gave off meant it could only be a magical creature or familiar of some sort.

It opened a tiny mouth and screeched harshly, and pulled itself out of Sakura's chest even more. It was absolutely disgusting, and Shirou didn't know whether to cry or scream at the violation happening in front of him.

It was Lancer who moved. With an uncharacteristic fury to his movements he snatched the creature, lifted it, and threw it on the floor with his superhuman strength. The splatter of it hitting the ground was enough to tell him what had happened.

"This is it." He spat. The creature wriggled weakly on the ground, trying to escape. But it was too late. The worm was already dead. Dozens of tiny holes perforated its torn apart body. The thorns of Gae Bolg had ensured its fate of death, and it would not survive. "This is Matou Zouken's heart."

The creature screamed once more as if begging for life, and finally, lay still. It was dead.

"That is..." Saber didn't know what to say. She had seen several powerful magi in her time, and one in particular had done some very unorthodox things with people's organs, but this was on a whole different level. Shirou looked blankly at the crushed worm on the floor, and then back up at Lancer, who had finally shown emotion since Gae Bolg had backfired.

"The heart." He began, his fury slowly receding. "Is not simply an organ." He picked up the limp worm and prodded it with one finger. "It is not just that muscle pumping blood through your body. It is your core and your center. While your head is where your soul is, your heart is what moves your body, keeps it alive. Without a heart it is impossible to live."

He threw the dead worm into the wall, and it splattered apart.

"Gae Bolg knows it, and that's why it can hit the heart every time it's activated." Lancer said. He materialized his cursed lance and both Saber and Shirou flinched as they looked at it. "This spear will seek it out. No matter how well protected or hidden, Gae Bolg will find the heart and strike it." The spear vanished again, and Lancer paced around the room, peering into the many holes in the walls, looking for any worms that may have survived. None were there.

He looked back at his two companions, who were still unsure of what to do. "I've fought and killed countless creatures." He continued. "Several of them were so fucked up that I can't even describe them to you with words alone. Some of them didn't seem to have any weak points at all." The monster hunter knelt beside the unconscious Matou Shinji and checked his pulse. "But each one, no matter how powerful or alien, had a heart. And Gae Bolg found those hearts, and destroyed them every time." Seemingly satisfied that the boy was still alive, he stood up again.

"The man I just killed was something that couldn't be called human." He said. "His existence had become something alien. Like an imitation of a vampire he fed on others to survive. And his heart... his heart, he hid inside of his own granddaughters body."

Shirou's head dropped forward. Tears fell from his eyes and onto Sakura's body. He didn't say anything. He didn't have to. Just knowing that the atrocity Lancer described had happened here, without him knowing, was enough.

"I didn't kill her." Lancer said, and for a moment Saber thought she heard his voice shake. "It... wasn't my fault."

No one denied his words. No one could bring themselves to tell him he was wrong.

But he knew it. Though he refused to acknowledge it, he knew the truth.

He had killed her. He had killed his best friend, his son, and now the very person he'd sworn to protect. He hadn't just broken his promise. He'd shattered it into a million pieces.

The three stood in silence, waiting in the underground basement of the Matou. Ironically, it was a Matou that broke the silence, albeit by accident.

"Uuuugh." Shinji groaned, and opened his bleary eyes. "What happened- oof!" He stiffened as the butt of a crimson spear struck him in the forehead. His eyes went cross-eyed, and once more he slumped to the ground, knocked out.

"...Master, we have to go." Saber said finally. "We should go back to your house, and then we can call Rin and tell her..." She glanced at Sakura, and her gaze hardened. "We can tell her that Assassin has been taken care of."

Shirou nodded numbly. He rose to his feet, carrying Sakura's body bridal style. "I'm taking her with me." He said. Lancer and Saber exchanged looks, but said nothing.

Saber decided to lead the way. She walked slowly up the stairs to the basement, still hampered by her wound, and exited the room. Shirou followed, still carrying Sakura.

Lancer hesitated. He turned, and looked at the blood staining the wall. Sakura's blood. Her blood. The blood of every single person he'd failed.

"...sorry." He whispered. He grabbed Shinji by the hair and dragged the boy up the stairs. The basement was left completely empty. For the first time in years it was truly quiet.

Outside the house, Lancer caught up to Shirou and Saber. The two had paused, waiting for him.

"One second." He said. "I'm going to make sure that nothing of Matou Zouken survives." He dropped Shinji onto the hard ground some meters away from the Matou home, and took a few steps back.

He exhaled, and Gae Bolg materialized in his hands. He entered a new stance, one neither Shirou nor Saber had seen before. But they recognized the thick prana in the air. It could only belong to Gae Bolg.

Lancer narrowed his eyes and locked on to the house. He flooded his spear with prana, more than before. Much more. Instead of a small portion, he poured almost all of his prana into the weapon, charging it with his own energy. Only after he reached his limit did he stop. The malevolent prana that had coated the air whenever he used Gae Bolg was back, and many times stronger. Although she knew that he was their ally and an honourable man, Saber instinctively stepped in front of Shirou to shield him from Lancer's true Noble Phantasm.

Lancer knelt, and ran.

He ran towards the Matou house, pouring all of his speed into this one dash. Once he was within 50 meters of the building, he abruptly stopped and jumped up high, his hand brought back to throw his red spear.

"**Gae Bolg!**" He yelled, and threw.

The red spear became a missile as it soared down towards the Matou house. The charged prana within it flared wildly, and destructive energy surrounded the entire weapon. It shook, and before his eyes Shirou saw the weapon split into dozens of crimson thorns, each one separate yet connected to Gae Bolg.

For a moment the picturesque scene hung in the air. The spearman, his arm stretched forward. The spear, slicing through the air. The house, casting a shadow on the ground from the sunset.

And then it struck. With the force of a hundred bombs Gae Bolg struck the Matou home, and the structure exploded. It was the exact opposite of the Gae Bolg lancer had unleashed against Saber, Berserker or Zouken. Instead of a spear the struck the heart no matter what, this was a weapon of pure destruction. The house didn't stand a chance, and its powerful bounded field was instantly pierced as if it hadn't even been there, providing as much defense as a wet tissue against the might of Lancer's weapon.

In less than a second the Matou house had vanished, only to be replaced torn apart wood and stone.

Lancer walked away from the wreck, and Saber opened her mouth to speak. "Lancer..." She said. "Was that... necessary?"

"No." Lancer said before she could say anything further. "But I sure feel better now. C'mon, let's go before the cops get here."

He deposited Shinji by the wrecked home, and set off towards the Emiya residence. Saber glanced towards the boy. "Should we be leaving him here?" She asked.

"I think we should kill the kid." Lancer said as he walked away. "But there's really no point. That kid isn't a Master anymore, and he's harmless now. If he shows up again you can kill him easily. Besides." He looked at Shirou, still holding onto Sakura and not moving. "I don't think your Master would want to do something like that."

Saber grimaced. "Yes, I suppose you are correct." She sighed. "Shirou would definitely ask me to spare the person who tried to kill him."

"Exactly." Lancer replied. "So it's better just to leave him there. If we're lucky the police will grab him and we won't have to see him for the rest of the War."

Saber nodded, and as Lancer set off towards the Emiya house she followed behind him. Shirou followed Saber, still not saying a word.

The group walked for almost half an hour. Lancer led them through streets that had no pedestrians to make sure no one noticed the high school student carrying a dead body among them.

As they rounded another corner and came to a wider street lit up by streetlights, Saber caught a glimpse of Shirou's face behind her. It hadn't changed since before. It was still completely empty. He only looked at the dead girl in his arms, and nothing else.

Saber sighed. She slowed down until she was right next to her silent Master.

"Shirou, you must be tired." She said. "And I know that you are wounded. Here, let me carry Sakura for you."

"...no." He muttered, and his grip on the dead girl's body tightened. "It's fine. You were hurt more... I'll carry her." He didn't even look at his Servant as he spoke.

"Shirou, I am your Servant." Saber chided him softly. "It is my duty to make sure you are in the best possible condition, and your wound is such that you cannot carry anything without opening it further. I have already mostly healed from my wounds, so allow me to carry Sakura for you." Shirou didn't react. "...please?" She asked, unused to asking for permission to do something.

"Fine." He finally said. Saber let out a relieved breath and gently took the dead girl from Shirou's arms. As she gazed into Sakura's closed eyes, she realized that the girl looked as peaceful in death as she had in life. Her beauty had not been tarnished.

"Shirou." She said as they turned onto a smaller alley. "I... don't know what to say. It is regrettable, but I feel that I am powerless to heal the wounds of your heart. Still... I am your Servant. And even if the entire world falls, I shall support you as long as you are still the same foolish Master who fought with me today. Even if I cannot do anything, you may rely on me."

"..." Shirou stared only at the ground. He showed no reaction to Saber's words. "I... failed, Saber." He finally admitted. "I failed. I couldn't save her."

"...failure is... difficult." Saber frowned. "I too am well acquainted with such a thing. Shirou, failure is inevitable. Not even a hero can be perfect. Even I made many mistakes during the time in which I was alive." She whispered.

"Did you?" Shirou asked weakly. "Did you, Saber? And what did you do when you failed?"

"I... continued." She admitted. "I pressed forward, past my failures. I did not let them affect me. I took my weakness and crushed it deep into my heart. And I continued, hoping that one day I would be able to fix those mistakes."

Shirou looked as Sakura again. "But Saber... how could you keep going? How could you continue knowing that you could have prevented something and didn't? How can you still fight even when you were unable to save a single girl?"

"...Shirou. What happened to Sakura wasn't your fault."

"It was." Shirou whispered.

"No, Shirou. You couldn't have done anything."

"It was my fault." He said.

"Oh, really? And am I supposed to believe a kid like you could've stopped my spear?" Both Shirou and Saber jumped as Lancer interrupted from behind. "Get over it, kid. Shit happens. This was an unfortunate accident, nothing more. Nothing less..."

SMACK!

Lancer recoiled suddenly as Shirou's fist found his face. The spearman staggered backwards for a moment before regaining his balance.

"Shut... up." Shirou growled. His fists were clenched so tightly together that blood fell from them and to the floor. Instead of sadness, all Lancer sensed from him was anger and pain. "You don't get to go around lecturing me!" He shot forward and launched another punch towards Lancer's face. Miraculously the spearman couldn't even stop or dodge it, and the blow knocked him back another few paces. He was unharmed, however, and Shirou's knuckles bled from the force of his own strike.

"Kid, are you serious about this?" Lancer growled. "I already proved it wasn't an accident, but are you still going to blame me for your girl's death?"

"No!" Shirou cried. "But I refuse to be allied to someone who can kill an innocent girl and walk away from it unchanged!" He shot forward again, but Lancer managed to raise his hand in time and caught the boy's blow between his fingers. "You probably don't even care!"

Lancer's eyes narrowed. "So that's how it is?" He said softly. "You want to end our alliance? Fine. There are only two Servants left anyway, me and Saber. How about we finish this War right now?" He turned his gaze to the warrior at the sidelines.

"I... don't think that is a good idea, Lancer." Saber finally said. "While I accept that we will inevitably fight and kill each other, this is not the time and place to do so." Her eyes hardened. "I know that you are drained of prana, and I am heavily wounded. If we battle now, it will not be the ideal battle you seek."

Lancer sighed. "Fine. At least you're still thinking straight, unlike your idiotic Master. I'm going. I'll return in... 3 days time to challenge you. Be ready." He shot one last glare towards Shirou. "And kid... I'd suggest you watch what you say in the future, because not everyone will be as merciful as me."

He released the boy's hand, and with a powerful jump Lancer leapt to one of the rooftops. Within seconds, he disappeared from Saber's sight and weakened senses.

Saber sighed. She looked at her Master. He had collapsed to his knees, simply staring at the ground blankly.

"Master..." She bit her lip. "I think that you have made a mistake."

"It wasn't a mistake." Shirou replied, but he didn't move otherwise. He kept his gaze fixed on the cracked ground, and his voice was empty. "I won't ally with a guy like him who doesn't care about others. He killed me once, after all. Why should I be his ally?"

Saber sighed once more. She gently laid Sakura's body on the ground, leaning the girl against one of the walls, and straightened, walking up to Shirou but not touching him.

"Shirou." She said slowly. "Lancer is a hero. I am a hero. We have lived our lives full of death and destruction. Lancer especially had a very unfortunate legend. We are used to failing and having our allies and friends die."

"That doesn't matter." Shirou said weakly. "He... he didn't even react! He just calmly... without even flinching..." He trailed off.

"I have not shown sorrow." Saber said. "Does that make me heartless? No, I am simply more skilled than you at keeping my emotions hidden. Right now I am furious at my failure to fulfill my duty, but I do not allow that emotion to influence my actions."

"..." Shirou didn't react.

"I am not unfamiliar with loss." Saber continued. "Indeed, you could say I know the effects of failure better than many. My wish... is to rectify the greatest mistake of my life."

"Greatest... mistake?" The boy perked up slightly.

"Indeed." Saber's nod went unseen. "This mistake brought about a horrible fate to my kingdom. I swore upon my deathbed that I would fix it, no matter what. And thus I can move forward, bolstered by the fact that although I have failed I will atone for it."

"...those you failed to save... will push you forward." Shirou murmured.

"Shirou, you cannot fall here. Sakura... would not wish for such a thing. I have only known both of you for a brief time, but I know that she fell in love with someone who would never hesitate to help those in need. Someone who would keep moving forward no matter what he lost and no matter how much pain he had to endure."

"...Sakura."

"Shirou. Are you still that person?"

"..." Shirou clenched his fists. He chuckled weakly. "I've... been a bit weak, haven't I?" He pushed himself to his feet. "Sorry Saber, I was a bit of an idiot there." He tried to smile, but his mouth couldn't form the necessary motions. "...well, I'll work at it." He decided. "But for now..."

"Thanks, Saber." He turned to see his companion and friend.

"...eh?"

He was greeted by the vision of Saber standing before him, but something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

"S-Saber?"

His Servant's mouth was open in a silent scream. Her hands trembled. Her eyes were wide.

And the silver blade of a sword had pierced her stomach. No, several swords. Shirou counted well over half a dozen different blades that had penetrated Saber's armour and skin, and each wound bled profusely. The reason she hadn't spoken was because two of the blades had punctured both of her lungs.

She stood for an endless moment on her feet, and then tipped forward, collapsing into Shirou's arms like a limp doll.

He stood frozen, unable to move a muscle.

"Pathetic." His mind was snapped out of its blank state by a voice he'd never heard before. Shirou looked up, and saw exactly who had spoken.

There, standing on top of the wall behind Saber, was a man. A man clad in heavy gold armour. A man with bright red eyes and yellow hair. A man whose mocking laugh echoed through the empty streets. A man carrying no weapons.

"I am disappointed in you, Saber." The man spoke once more with his elegant voice. "You have softened. Losing against Berserker, Assassin, and now this? This boy has robbed you of your elegance and power!"

Shirou couldn't move, because every single one of his instincts told him that to take his eyes off the man in gold would lead to instant death.

"Do not worry, Saber." The golden man continued. "I, Gilgamesh, shall restore the glory you once held by ridding you of these weak parasites that are sapping you of it!" He pointed a single armour clad finger at Shirou.

"First... I shall eradicate this pathetic excuse for a Master!"


	23. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night. It belongs to Type-Moon.**

Note: There is a part of this chapter which has been done as a deliberate homage to another anime. And by homage I mean almost a cut and paste of text. Oops!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21: Resurgence<strong>

"Uh... damn it... Emiya..." As his home burned behind him, Matou Shinji stirred, and forced his tired eyes open. His vision was blurry, but he couldn't mistake the sight of the house he'd lived in all his life collapsed and broken.

He coughed, expelling a startling amount of ash and dust from his lungs. "What?" He groaned, and felt as if his dry throat could bleed any second. He tried moving his arms, and they responded clumsily. He forced them under his chest, and pushed upwards, trying to stand.

It was a chore. His limbs wouldn't move properly, as if he'd never used them before. Just standing took five whole minutes, and left the teen with a variety of new bruises on different parts of his body from his many falls. But finally, he stood, surveying the destruction in front of him.

"...fuck." He couldn't think of anything to say. Sure it had been his home. Sure he'd never known any other sanctuary in his entire life. Sure his grandfather and sister were most likely dead, with him soon to follow. But despite all that, he couldn't bring himself to say anything as he looked at all he had lost.

Abruptly, his body shook, and he coughed uncontrollably into the palm of his hand. However, instead of ash or dust, this time his hand came away bloody. His eyes widened as he saw tiny worms wriggling inside the blood. Slowly they stopped moving, and died whilst releasing high pitched squeals of pain.

"So grandpa's dead, and his familiars are gone with him." He murmured painfully. While he had never been taught by a magus, Shinji knew bits and pieces of the Matou magecraft. And just recently he had been taught about crest worms, his grandfather's greatest creations. Only hours, or perhaps days, ago, he had been granted the gift of the crest worms inside his body.

They had made him powerful. Powerful enough to utterly decimate a so called 'magus' easily. Yet he knew the power he possessed was not his. It belonged to his grandfather. It was only the power of the crest worms, and not of Matou Shinji. And that was what had led to his defeat.

He had lost, but despite that, Matou Shinji still lived. And he wouldn't let something like this hold him down.

Yet, as he collapsed to his knees and vomited a veritable torrent of blood and dying crest worms, Shinji forced a grin onto his pained face. And he stood up again, gazing into the burning collapsed manor he had once called home. When he thought of it again, he realized just how small it had been. Ridiculous. As if he could ever be held back in a place like that!

"My grandfather is dead." He whispered, pushing his bruised vocal chords to their limit. "He's gone, but..." Those crest worms... were his now. "He's right there, in my body, in my heart." Yes. As long as the worm in his heart was still functioning, there was a chance that even Matou Shinji could learn to use the crest worms for his own benefit. No, it was not chance, but certainty.

"The Matou lineage lives on as a part of me!" He yelled. Instead of growing weaker, his battered body felt stronger than ever. "If I'm going to be a magus, then I'll be the greatest, greater than the heavens themselves!"

He felt another wave of and worms coming, but swallowed them down. "No matter what's in my way... I won't stop. Once I've gained control of these creatures, it means that I've won!"

His body revolted. Pain blossomed all over his body, from every single nerve ending to every last blood vessel. It was even worse than taking the crest worms into his body had been. Instead of feeling the creatures latch onto his body, now he could feel them starving and dying all at once.

But this wasn't enough! He would survive this! "Just... who the hell... do you think I am!" He stood his ground. Despite the pain, he would not stop here! Matou Shinji's story was just beginning! "I'm Shinji. I'm not my grandfather, I'm me!" He screamed his vow into the clouded sky.

"I'm Shinji the Magus!"

"Oh? Who's a magus now?" Shinji froze completely in place as a bemused voice interrupted his monologue. He choked on his latest words, and frantically forced his malfunctioning body to execute a 180 degree turn.

Behind him a familiar figure came into focus. A person he was very familiar with. Someone he'd spent a great deal of time pining after, the idol of his school, and one of the only girls to ever deny his wishes. Her trademark pigtailed hair swayed in the light wind, and her smirk riled him up, forcing Shinji to calm down and speak with caution.

"Tohsaka." He said, frowning. "What are you doing here?" He tried to keep his voice and tone even, but it was a battle of willpower to keep from losing his cool. If Rin found out even a fraction of what had transpired at the Matou home in the past day, then he was as good as dead.

"I sensed a great discharge of magical energy in this area." She said calmly. "And I decided to check on it, as the supervisor of Fuyuki City." She smiled gently, sending cold shivers down Shinji's spine. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you, 'Shinji the Magus'?"

"Ah..." Shinji gulped. "Well... um... it's the business of the Matou family. You have no right to butt in, Tohsaka." He replied clumsily. Inwardly he cursed himself as he saw Rin's coy smile grow. Normally he'd be able to keep up with her in an argument, but all that fighting had tired out his mind as well as his body, and Shinji couldn't focus enough to put on a witty defense.

"Too bad, Matou-kun." She said. "But I'm making it my business. Now would you be so kind as to tell me what happened here? I heard you saying something about your grandfather dying earlier, and I'm very curious as to the circumstances of such a thing."

"He was..." Shinjii paused, planning out his next words carefully. "Grandfather was... one of the Masters in the Holy Grail War." He saw Rin's eyes widen, and had to hold back a smirk as he finally caught the girl off guard. "Master of Assassin, if you need to know." He continued, his voice getting smoother as his confidence returned. "Sadly, Gramps wasn't as good as he thought he was. He ended up getting killed, along with his Servant."

"Would happen to have seen the one who did such a deed?" Rin managed to say, even as she struggled to change her previous idea of who could be Assassin's Master.

"Why Tohsaka, how could you ask me that?" Shinji shrugged. "I am uninvolved in the War! Unlike my grandfather, I did not receive any command spells, and thus am not a Master! So why should I be involved in this dangerous War?" If he had to, he would swallow his pride this once. Just once.

"I find it hard to believe..." Rin replied carefully. "That Matou Zouken would tell you about his involvement in the War without involving you in some way. And you look markedly different than you did a few days ago, Matou-kun."

"...it's... Matou family business." Shinji said weakly. "And you have no right to go snooping around, Tohsaka."

"Do I?" Rin took a step forward, bringing her face close to Shinji's. She eyed the bloodstains on his clothing and mouth. "I think I have the right to investigate anything that might threaten the safety of Fuyuki city. And besides, I am a magus, Matou-kun." She smiled, but there was no gentleness in her eyes. "I know the rules. I also know how to... get past them."

"...what do you want to know?" Shinji growled. It took all of his strength not to attack the insolent girl in front of him, and in the end it was only the knowledge that he stood no chance against her that kept him from doing so.

"Ah, thank you being so cooperative!" She exclaimed, and skipped backwards a step, widening the distance between the two once more. "Now... where is Matou Sakura?"

Shinji blinked. "Her? Of all the things, you want to know where she is?" He frowned. "It's always her..." He muttered under his breath.

"Sakura should have been at Emiya's house." Rin said. "She wasn't when I arrived, and neither was Emiya-kun or Saber. What I did find, on the other hand, was a ruined living room and several puddles of blood." She narrowed her eyes, and Shinji was subjected to the full force of her glare. "So tell me, what happened to her, Matou-kun?"

"She returned to her home." Shinji said with an air of finality. "Back to where she belongs."

"...was she returned by force?" Rin asked. Her voice was gentle, but Shinji could hear the growing anger in Rin's words.

"Emiya was an idiot, as usual." Shinji replied. "He gave me no choice-."

His sentence was interrupted by a lightning quick backhand from Rin. His head snapped to the side, and he whirled, collapsing onto his back from the force of the blow. His head spun, and Shinji groaned as he tried to reorient himself.

Rin knelt down and grabbed the teen by his shirt, pulling him up until her eyes bored into his once more. This time, all pretenses of gentleness were gone, leaving behind only cold anger and professionalism.

"What. Did. You. Do?" She growled.

Shinji chuckled. "I just followed orders, Tohsaka. When he refused to return my dear sister to me, I followed Grandfather's orders and rendered him unable to fight me."

"I find it hard to believe that you, a non magus, could defeat three people, one of them a Servant." Rin said. "Explain." Her interrogation left no room for lies, and Shinji found himself telling the truth to the girl he'd once entertained delusions of conquering.

"I... Gramps gave me Assassin." He coughed, and continued speaking weakly. "He distracted Saber long enough for me to knock Emiya out and take back Sakura."

"How did you acquire enough strength do such a thing?" Rin pressed him. "Emiya-kun may not be very bright, but he was strong enough to fight Caster's familiars. There's no way for a non-magus like you to beat him unless... ah." She blinked. "So... it was Zouken that empowered you... but how could he boost a non-magus to such high levels?"

"Don't... underestimate the Matou magecraft." Shinji grinned. "Sure it may have had some unintended side effects..." It would be a while before he was good looking again, with his face ruined. "But I am definitely a magus now, despite your thoughts to the contrary, Tohsaka."

Rin clenched her fists tightly, trying desperately to understand what had happened. Shinji suddenly a magus, Sakura abducted, and Shirou wounded... how had this happened?

"Tell me what happened." She said. "All of it."

Shinji chuckled. "What's there to tell that you don't already know? I took back my sister. Emiya wasn't so happy about that, so he and his Servant pursued us and intruded upon my home." He looked back at the ruin. "In the end, despite all his big talk, Gramps lost and got killed. When I woke up I was lying here, and then you showed up. That's all that happened."

"...that's it?" Rin asked.

Shinji nodded weakly. "That's it. Can you let me down now?"

Rin sighed and released her hold on Shinji's shirt, letting the boy fall to the ground on his back. "So I'm back to square one... well, at least Sakura's probably okay with Emiya-kun." She shot a glance towards Shinji. "I should kill you." She said in her normal voice, as if speaking pleasantly about the weather.

"Are you going to, Tohsaka?" Shinji asked, and coughed again. This time there was less blood, perhaps signifying that the worms were ceasing to revolt... or that his body was beginning to die. "I'm uninvolved now. There's no reason for me to be killed." He said weakly.

"The fact remains that you abducted an innocent girl and tried to kill one of my friends." Rin said. "And you are from a rival family..." She pondered for a few moments, letting the boy on the ground sweat, wondering whether or not he would live through the next moments.

But in the end, Tohsaka Rin was too merciful for her own good, and she knew it. "I suppose Sakura needs at least one sibling..." She murmured to herself, and shot a glance at Shinji. "Even if it's this creep." She then raised her voice and addressed Shinji directly. "Rejoice." She said dryly. "For God has decided to bless you with the gift of life."

"You'll let me live?" Shinji asked, hopeful. It was bad enough that he had to beg Tohsaka for mercy, but if she said no, then he would die like a dog. And he refused to accept that.

"Yeah. Treasure your life while you still have it, Matou-kun. And I do hope you rethink how you treat your sister." She added lightly. "I've decided to take a personal interest in her, and I'd hate to see you trying to emulate your late grandfather."

"Ah..." Shinji nodded, trying to stay calm, and only barely keeping himself from doing something rash. He only had to swallow his pride and beg this once. Just one more time letting Tohsaka walk all over him, and he'd be able to surpass her and return the favor in the future. "Understood."

"Good." Rin turned away from the fallen boy, and took a single step away.

However, it was only one, and no more, as she was stopped by hand clutching her ankle.

"Wait..." A voice that sounded almost nothing like Shinji's greeted her. It was completely unfamiliar to her, yet she felt like she should have known almost instantly who it was.

She turned once more, and looked at Shinji. His hand tightened around her foot, and she resisted the urge to screams as she felt her bones shift. Instead, she directed all of her reinforcement to that foot, keeping it from breaking under Shinji's suddenly powerful grip.

"...what is this?" She said.

"Ha." Shinji chuckled weakly. "Oh... I don't want to die." He confessed. His eyes were empty, and though they functioned and gazed at Rin, she could tell that they didn't see her. "I was... so close. Just a little more, and the Grail would have been in my hands!" Those were not the words of Matou Shinji. The style of speaking, the intonation, it was all wrong.

Rin frowned. "Who are you?" She asked curtly.

"So close... so close..." The new voice moaned. "How disappointing... I was almost there." He whispered. As his voice became quieter, his eyes focused, and he finally seemed to notice Rin's presence.

Their eyes made contact for a single moment.

Abruptly, he laughed. A distorted noise from a distorted throat, Shinji, or whoever possessed him, laughed. "Ahahaha! I know you, Tohsaka! I have never laid eyes on you, yet I can recognize the scent of the Tohsaka blood even in this condition! You may be young, you may be foolish, but I can smell your bloodline! Are you here to laugh, Tohsaka? Are you here to laugh at the last of the Makiri? Do you think you can mock me so?"

"I..." Rin paused. "You... you're Matou Zouken, aren't you?" She had never seen the man before, but her father had told her the names of the Matou as a child. This was Shinji's grandfather, speaking through the body of his own flesh and blood. "Is this... the Matou magecraft?"

"...so you don't know." Shinji, or Zouken, spat blood onto the floor to clear his throat before continuing to speak. His voice was already noticeably raspier. "No, of course you don't. You are but a child, still ignorant to the cruel reality of the world around you."

"I'm no child!" Rin retorted before she had time to think. "I am a magus! I have walked with death!"

"To think it would end this way..." Zouken continued to talk, forgetting about Rin's presence completely. Shinji's eyes had clouded over once more. "In the end, although the False Grail was completed, I never had time to assert my control over it. It is a pity. Only a few more minutes... and I would have finally been able to see my wish granted."

"False Grail..." Rin frowned. "This is too much for me to handle... what is going on here?" First Sakura's had been abducted by her own family, who possessed Assassin, then Shirou and Saber had killed Matou Zouken, something she found hard to accept. Even though she knew almost nothing of the Matou magecraft, her father of all people had talked about Zouken with a modicum of respect. And someone her father respected shouldn't have been able to lose to a no-good magus. But even more curiously, Zouken still lived in his own grandson, and now he spoke about a Fake Grail? It was too much. Everything was moving too fast for her to comprehend.

"...well, it doesn't matter now." Zouken spoke through Shinji one last time. "Now that the False Grail has been freed from my control, it will destroy everything unless it is stopped. And then you'll be left to pick up the pieces, Tohsaka." He chuckled weakly one more time, and released Rin's foot. He forced Shinji to roll onto his back, and stared at the cloudy sky.

"...just... von... ...bern..."

He took one more rasping breath, and lay still. The death Matou Zouken had sought to escape finally caught up with him, and his old, rotten soul collapsed.

Rin looked down at Shinji's still body. She knelt down and felt for a pulse. Surprisingly, it seemed that Shinji was still alive, but she could tell that the possession had ended. Zouken was dead for good this time.

"This is... not good." Yes. While it would no doubt take at least an hour of reviewing her memories to come up with a viable hypothesis as to what had happened, Rin knew that whatever this development was, it was definitely not good. And right now, there was one very important thing she had to do.

"I have to talk to Sakura." Rin said to herself, as she set off running back into the city.

-Break-

"Haah!" Shirou swung with all of his might. He pushed his aching muscles to their limit, ignoring the burning pain in his stomach, and the dozen other wounds covering his body. He pushed forward, swinging the weapon in his hands towards his target, aiming to strike!

With a clang, the gigantic axe smashed through the Monohoshizao, destroying the inferior weapon as if it was made of glass. However, Shirou's swing had been enough, and the crude axe sailed over his shoulder, embedding itself into a wall and not the boy's head.

Shirou didn't pause. As soon as he felt his weapon break, he activated his circuit and recreated it from memory. The sword was back in his hands, and the boy swung it once more, pushing aside a golden rapier aimed at his throat. The thin sword was deflected more easily than the axe, but simply touching it was enough to melt through Shirou's sword and break it once more.

"That makes thirteen." The golden man said casually. He reclined against the wall by the street lazily, not moving as his armoury slowly cornered Shirou. "Congratulations, you've surpassed your previous status as a worthless whelp. You are now fit to lick the ground beneath my feet. Come, if you survive until fifty I might keep you alive as my slave for a few days!"

Shirou didn't respond. Instead, he took the brief respite to look at Saber. The first thing he had done when the golden man arrived was step in front of her, but the mysterious Servant's attacks had slowly pushed him back until he could feel her body behind him. She hadn't reacted all that time, and Shirou could only hope that she was alive. Sakura, on the other hand, had been completely ignored, and was still lying next to the wall, only a few meters from Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh snapped his fingers, and another weapon soared from his Gate of Babylon, this time aimed at Shirou's chest. It was heavy golden hammer, and Shirou knew instinctively that he would not be able to redirect it with any amount of skill. He simply wasn't powerful enough, and neither was his weapon.

Still, even though he had grasped that it was impossible, his sword sliced through the air as if following its own will. It made contact with the offending weapon, and shattered, unable to do any more than slightly nudge the hammer off course.

Shirou raised his hand in a futile effort to defend himself, but there was no need. Just before the weapon could hit him and end his life, it bounced off the suddenly solid air in front of Shirou.

"Huh? Saber!" Shirou's exclamation went unheard by his Servant, who staggered to her feet with her unseen weapon as a crutch. Her breathing was heavy and uneven thanks to the two rapidly healing holes in her lungs, but she could stand and fight, even if only barely.

"You..." Her gaze was fixed on the golden man. "Why are you still in this world, Archer?" As she tried to control her voice, Gilgamesh chuckled.

"There is no need for a reason. All that matters is that I remain. I have waited ten years for you, King of Knights." He stopped laughing, and his smile became a frown. "Yet all I see is you constantly failing!" He snapped his fingers, and two almost identical weapons shot towards the wounded Saber.

With a pained cry, she twisted and swung outwards with her sword. Both weapons struck, and bounced off her invisible blade, embedding into the wall behind her. She panted, trying to regain her breath from a movement that would normally be nothing to her.

"Again I see such weakness in you." He continued. "You failed so many times that it was almost unbearable for me to watch. Are you truly the woman I chose all those years ago?" His gaze was like an unbearable weight pressing down on Saber, and if it had been anyone else they would not have been able to stand up to it, but Saber returned his glare with one of her own.

"You failed against Berserker. You lost to Assassin. And worst of all, you degraded yourself to serve such a pathetic Master!" Three weapons shot from the air behind him, this time aimed at Shirou. Saber positioned herself in front of the boy, and stopped two of the three with her sword. But the third slashed open her shoulder armour, drawing blood again. Only the tightening of Saber's eyes signified the pain she was in. Despite her already heavy wounds, she stood straight and true against the interloper threatening Shirou's life.

"The woman I saw ten years ago was more than that. She was worthy of becoming one of my treasures!" Gilgamesh continued, launching more and more swords towards Saber. She struggled to stop them, and couldn't help but take more wounds as she tried desperately to protect both herself and Shirou. The flow of her enemy's attack was too erratic and rough. She could not move forward for fear of leaving her Master undefended, and so she was forced to stand her ground and weather waves and waves of weapons, like a rock against the approaching tide.

"So... even now, you seek me." Saber grunted as she parried an especially heavy spear. She felt the heavy wound in her back reopen, and almost lost her already precarious balance. "Ah!" It was only the steadying arm of Shirou that kept her from falling to the ground.

"Saber... I don't know what's going on, but I won't let you fall!" Shirou said. "I'm not going to lose you too!" With that, he stepped in front of his Servant, and projected Sasaki Kojirou's blade once more. He pointed it towards Gilgamesh, and growled. "I don't care who you are, I won't let you hurt Saber anymore! I've already failed once today, and I won't do so again!"

"Shirou... I will protect you as long as I can move." The warrior in his arms was in pain, yet she couldn't stop a small, weak smile from appearing on her face. It only lasted a fraction of a second, but the golden king noticed it instantly, and it only bolstered his rage.

"...you." Gilgamesh's gaze was now fully concentrated on Shirou. Simply the pressure from the King of Heroes was enough to almost send the young magus to his knees. It was only because of Saber's support that he managed to withstand it. "I was going to spare you, but you have forced my hand. Although it will be a pain to keep Saber in the world after you are gone, there are other options. But thanks to you I have been forced to rid myself of the easiest one."

He pointed his fingers towards Shirou, and brought them together. The golden king's crimson eyes burned. "Be gone from my sight!"

As he snapped his fingers, the rain came.

It was not a rain of water, but weapons. A torrent of swords, spears, and axes sprung from the air itself to slash apart Saber and Shirou. If the sword rain had been a faucet, then previously it would have been leaking droplets of water one by one. But now that it had been opened, there would be no stopping the flow.

Saber pressed forward, moving in front of Shirou and knocking away two twisted lumps of metal apparently meant to be blades. However, at the same time she opened herself up to be struck by a small dagger that had snuck underneath. She braced herself for impact, but the weapon never reached her. Shirou's blade flicked underneath and around, and redirected the flying blade to the side with almost unnatural skill.

Her Master took a step forward, moving in front of his wounded Servant with a suicidal determination. He slashed three times in the blink of an eye, and a trio of weapons, an axe, lance, and sword, all flew upwards into the night sky. But behind them was a staff built like a battering ram, and Monohoshizao had already shattered from deflecting the previous weapons. He nonetheless pressed forward, intent on blocking the offending weapon with his own body.

It never came to that. Wordlessly, Saber pushed forward, knocking the staff away with her supernatural strength, but at the same time putting her in a position to be struck by a silver claymore coming from the side. Shirou saw that and knocked the weapon away with his newly recreated sword.

It was an almost suicidal charge. Against the great number of Noble Phantasms, the duo instinctively realized that they stood no chance of winning. No matter what they did, no matter how they fought, in their conditions they would not be able to defeat the golden king's treasury, only delay the inevitable.

In the end, it was their bond that let them survive. The weak boy and the wounded warrior could not have lived by themselves, so they charged together, each compensating for the other's weakness. As Shirou slashed upwards, Saber swung low. What they could not stop apart, they somehow managed to survive together.

Each recklessly threw themselves into the line of fire. Saber charged into a bad position to stop the weapons heading for Shirou, and her Master disposed of defending himself altogether just to stop his Servant from being impaled. The teamwork born of instinct and desperation went up against an unstoppable onslaught, and somehow endured against all odds.

"You..."

But the king was not so easily stopped.

"Don't get cocky..."

For he had used only a fraction of his true power!

"You mongrels!"

The gate opened wide. The tap cracked open, releasing an unstoppable deluge of weaponry. It could not be compared to the previous attack. The number of weapons had doubled at least, and Shirou could tell just by looking at them that the quality was ridiculously high. At least as high as Lancer's Gae Bolg had been!

Still, he and Saber moved. The wounded girl swung and struck three tiny knives that had been flung towards Shirou's vital spots. The bounced off her sword, but the barrier of invisibility that covered it was ripped apart from the strain, and faded, revealing a beautiful golden blade for a second. Even as his eyes were drawn to the magnificent holy sword, Shirou projected Monohoshizao in one hand, and a wooden sword in his other. He swung wildly towards the air in front of Saber, and for a moment it looked to him as if he had slashed three times in one moment, enough to redirect the weapons flying towards his Servant.

For a moment they were safe. For a tiny period of time the space around Shirou and Saber was clear of weapons.

Then a curved and twisted dagger slipped through, stabbing Saber in the shoulder and knocking her back. Immediately, a sword struck Shirou's stomach, reopening his old wound and pushing him backwards, until he was on his back, lying next to Saber and coughing out blood.

"Hmph. I dislike leeches that do not have the decency to die." Gilgamesh said as the flow of weapons stopped. "But at last you see how worthless your efforts are. You can no more survive my attacks than the moon can outshine the sun." He made to step forward, but hesitated as he saw one of his fallen foes still moving.

Shirou growled, and his hand grasped the hilt of the sword that was not yet there. As Monohoshizao materialized in his hands, he used it as a crutch to prop himself up. Breathing heavily, he confronted the Golden King once more. "Don't think... I'll let you... harm... Saber." It was a struggle just to get the words out, but Shirou persevered nonetheless. He couldn't die. He couldn't let Saber disappear. He couldn't fail... again.

Gilgamesh actually paused, and scrutinized the boy. "I suppose cockroaches are tenacious creatures, at least." He admitted. "But you cannot defeat me, whelp. Just stand still, and I will be done with you in a moment."

"Eh?" Shirou blinked as Gilgamesh closed his eyes, not attacking at all. "What?" Why had the golden king stopped? Shirou was almost dead, and Gilgamesh could have wiped the boy out at any time!

"...as sloppy as ever." Gilgamesh said, just before a bolt of crimson shot towards his head.

It stopped, inches from his head. The red spear called Gae Bolg was plainly visible, and Gilgamesh examined it with some interest as it hung mere inches from his face, embedded in a crystal shield and hanging in the air.

Another blur shot towards Archer, blue this time. Lancer moved faster than Shirou had ever seen the man go, slamming his feet into the crystal shield and gripping his lance with both hands. He pressed forward, and the shield Gilgamesh had put up cracked more and more, until it only barely stayed together.

Gilgamesh frowned.

Lancer jumped backwards, yanking his spear out of the shield and landing on the ground next to Shirou. At the same time half a dozen weapons materialized where the spearman had been moments before. Had he been any slower, there wouldn't have been any bits of Lancer left.

"I was waiting for that." Gilgamesh remarked as Lancer frowned. "Really, for such a quick man you sure are awfully slow when it comes to going for the killing blow."

"Just making sure I was aiming for a person and not a bunch of gaudy jewellery thrown together." Lancer retorted dryly. Shirou blinked, unable to comprehend the reality in front of him. Why was Lancer there? Hadn't the spearman left? Hadn't the argued? Wasn't their alliance over?

Lancer didn't even look at the wounded boy behind him. He only narrowed his eyes as he beheld Gilgamesh. "Who... are you?" He said slowly. "I saw you earlier, before that bastard of a Master sent me out, but your body is dissimilar to a Servant's. Are you some kind of monster?"

"Hah." Gilgamesh smiled cruelly at the blue spearman. "It appears I almost forgot to inform you. Your Master sends a message. We are allies now, Lancer. And your next order is to finish off Saber's Master. Come, if you accomplish your task quickly enough I might see fit to reward you."

"..." Lancer frowned. He looked back at Shirou, who tried to work up a glare but only managed a pained grimace. "What the hell... are you his Servant?" Sure, the aura was similar, and normally Lancer would immediately peg the blond man as a Servant, but there were already 7, and he had met all of them. It was impossible!

"I serve no one." Gilgamesh said coolly. "But I am the victor of the previous War, and I saw fit to grace your Master's abode with my presence for the last few years, as we are similar people."

"Why didn't he tell me about it?" Lancer asked, still suspicious.

"Heh. Why should he have?" Gilgamesh said. "Or would you have wished to cooperate with me?"

Lancer's grip on Gae Bolg tightened. He had almost no idea of what was going on. Kotomine suddenly possessed a second Servant, who he was supposed to accept? He could tell that the golden man wasn't lying, but it was a hard order to choke down. Cooperate... with someone like him? It was...

"No way. I'd rather die than cooperate with you, Goldie. Besides, didn't I say it earlier?" Lancer grinned madly like a man with a death wish. "You're on my list! And I'm going to beat Saber fair and square, not by killing her idiot Master!"

...unthinkable!

"As expected, even someone like you has pride." Gilgamesh murmured, and he couldn't hold back a smile. "Fine. Don't cooperate. I'll kill Saber's Master myself, and keep her alive with one of my artifacts. You'll be able to fight her at full power and get slaughtered later. You have my word, Lancer. Is that to your satisfaction?"

Lancer paused. Even though it had previously looked like he'd oppose Gilgamesh, he suddenly relaxed. "..." He didn't reply to the golden Servant's offer, but stepped away from the wounded people behind him. He sighed, and leaned against the wall next to Gilgamesh. "Hurry up and get it over with." He said. "Before someone does something incredibly stupid." He said with a nod to Shirou, whose eyes still burned with a stifled hope, and Saber, whose wounds were already closing.

Gilgamesh frowned, and moved away from Lancer's bloodstained body. "Do not approach me." He said. "I do not wish to be tainted by your filthy presence."

Lancer didn't reply. He closed his eyes, and the only sign of his barely suppressed anger he allowed to show was the slight tightening of the hand holding Gae Bolg.

Meanwhile, Saber had recovered enough to speak, and whispered to Shirou. "Shirou..." She looked at the two fearsome warriors before her. Even at her best they would be difficult opponents, but in her condition she stood next to no chance of victory. Still, she did not give up. "I know that I'm asking for something impossible, but please believe in me."

Shirou nodded weakly. "Don't worry about me." He lied, as he ripped the dagger out of his stomach wound with only a slight grimace. "I'll do my best to follow you."

Saber paused. "I... trust you." She said quietly, in a voice that seemed more suited to a shy young girl than a powerful king.

The tension stretched on. Lancer was like a statue against the wall, unmoving and ignorant of the world around him. Saber and Shirou, on the other hand, were prey betting their lives on a single chance to escape from Gilgamesh. His ruby eyes bored into Saber's, and she felt as if her entire life had been laid bare before him just from one glance. Nevertheless, she hardened her resolve.

"Now!"

The moved, and the world froze once more.

Saber froze with her sword raised to strike. Lancer and Gilgamesh had both reacted identically to Saber's move. Gilgamesh had slashed to his right with a longsword, at the exact same time Lancer's spear had thrust towards the golden king's head. The two attacks canceled each other out, as both killing blows repelled each other completely.

"...Lancer, there was no need to interfere." Gilgamesh said softly, nothing but amusement shining in his eyes.

Lancer shrugged. "Sorry, my hand slipped. I mistook your ridiculous face for a pest and naturally swung before I could think."

"Are you breaking our agreement?" Gilgamesh asked, still eerily calm.

"Agreement?" Lancer tilted his head quizzically. "I don't recall ever agreeing to anything. All I said was that you'd better hurry up before someone does something stupid. It looks like you took too long, Goldie."

"...so you have chosen to disobey your Master's orders and betray him?" The golden king's eyes glowed. "Is that it, Lancer? Are you going to protect these two even after they rejected you?"

"Lancer..." Saber gasped. "Even after all we've done to you?"

"Don't you start." Lancer shook his head. "If you're thinking of saying some stupid sentimental stuff, you might as well keep your mouth shut. I'm not helping you. Our alliance is over." He opened his eyes, and glared directly at the golden king without flinching. "All I'm doing here is following my beliefs!"

He grinned, and raised his weapon. All hesitation had disappeared from his eyes. Yes, Lancer already knew what had to be done. He would fight his enemy, and win. Nothing would stand between him and his wish, not even some smug Kings! He would beat this man, then duel and defeat Saber, and finally he would have his wish and bring her back...

He frowned. Why was it that when he thought of it, something seemed off? As if it didn't fit in his mind? What was he forgetting? Was it the sheer impossibility of his actions? No, he was used to surviving unwinnable battles. It must have been something else, something inherently wrong with his plan.

Before Lancer could remember what it was that irked him, he was forced to raise his lance, barely deflecting a silver knife that was aimed straight at his face. He glared at Gilgamesh, who merely smirked.

"What? Do you wish for me to grant you even more time to think? You've already wasted enough of my time, mutt, and I shall not allow you to take even more! I shall finish you here and now!" Gilgamesh snapped his fingers, and the gate opened once more. Lancer saw dozens upon dozens of weapons floating in the abyss, and instinctively knew that he could not allow even one to strike him. In his condition, a single wound could mean death.

Two mouths curled into identical grins.

Lancer flew forward.

The weapons approached.

He swung.

The clash began.

"Ah..." Shirou stared numbly as the two warriors dueled. It was amazing, and he could honestly see the difference between his clumsy movements and Lancer's. As Gilgamesh attempted to pummel the spearman with weapons, Lancer jumped around like an energetic cricket, always one move ahead. He moved to places free of weapons, choosing the best path to avoid being struck. Occasionally he would deflect a weapon with Gae Bolg, but most of the man's focus was on avoidance and not being struck. "It's... amazing." Even as he watched, the two's battle drifted away from the wounded couple, and down the street. He had no idea how no one had discovered the battle, but frankly didn't care at the moment.

"Shirou..." Saber said in front of him as she all but collapsed. Shirou dived to his knees and caught his Servant in his arms. Her wounds had almost all closed, save for the recent one in her shoulder. "You must... run." She said weakly. "Hurry, before Archer realizes you're still here and comes back to finish you off."

"I'm not leaving without you." Shirou said firmly. "C'mon, you should have recovered enough strength to stand up. I'll get Sakura, and we can go home together." He grabbed Saber around the waist and stood her up, making sure she could support herself. She seemed stable, if slightly unfocused, but as soon as he let go she collapsed again.

"Saber?" He asked, slightly more worried this time. "What's wrong? You were almost healed a moment ago!" His voice shook as he saw the light in Saber's eyes begin to dim. Her form seemed to waver for a moment, and his heart skipped a beat as it seemed she would disappear.

But the girl grunted, and raised a hand shakily. She grabbed the dagger in her shoulder, and yanked it out with a muffled cry of pain. "Shirou... look at this." She whispered.

The boy took the weapon from Saber's hand, and cradled it in his hands like a dangerous explosive. At first glance it looked less like a knife and more like a work of art. It was crooked, bent, and obviously not originally meant to wound. If he had to, he'd say it was more of a ceremonial decoration than something meant to kill. In fact, it looked very familiar...

Another, almost identical dagger flashed through his mind. He'd seen this before. This weapon was something that one other person had drawn out. "That's... impossible." It hadn't been a man, but a woman. In fact, he'd seen the dagger very recently. The memory of it was burned into his mind, as he had been close to death when he'd seen it. He knew this blade. He knew its name.

"Rule Breaker." He gasped. The weapon clattered to the ground as he turned his hand over to look at his command spells. No, that was wrong. He looked at where his command spells should have been.

They were gone. As if he had never received him, the back of his hand was completely clean of any imperfection.

He looked back up at Saber. She smiled weakly. "Sorry... Shirou." She managed to say.

"We can restore the contract!" Shirou heard himself yelling. It's not too late, Saber!" He clutched her hand desperately. "Come on, we can't waste the chance Lancer gave us! Become my Servant again!"

"It... won't work." She said quietly. "You are no longer a Master, Shirou. Our contract no longer exists. Go, you have no need for me anymore. Take Sakura and run. I shall assist Lancer until I disappear." She forced herself to her feet, once more using her invisible blade as a crutch. She closed her eyes and looked within at her remaining levels of prana.

"I will be able to remain in this world for a few minutes longer." She said after a moment. "That should be enough to distract Archer. Shirou, if you run now you will be able to flee."

"No."

"Shirou, you must!" Saber shouted weakly. "Don't let my sacrifice be in vain. I am a Heroic Spirit, and I shall be summoned in another War, but I will not let you die!"

"No, it's not that." Shirou replied. Saber looked up, and saw what the problem was.

Shirou's face had gone white. His eyes were wide, and close to tears. He was looking at Sakura's body.

Or rather, the spot where Sakura's body had been. Now there was nothing but empty wall and a trail of blood leading around one of the street corners.

"She's gone, Saber." He whispered. "She's gone."

Saber grabbed Shirou's hand, and with difficulty dragged the numbed boy down the street, following the trail of blood. "Come on, we can still find her!" The two followed the direction of the bloodstains, which just happened to be the direction that Lancer and 'Archer's' battle had moved.

They rounded the corner, and the previously dim sound of weapons clashing intensified as they did so. Once more the pitched battle came into view. At one end of a short street stood Lancer, and at the other was Gilgamesh, still firing swords without breaking a sweat.

Lancer swung his lance wildly, knocking weapons away from his body with reckless speed. He had seemingly forgotten his previous tactic of focusing on evading, and charged forward, trying to break through the waves of weaponry launched his way. He was like an arrowhead struggling against the wind, sharpening his body to become a smaller target. Gae Bolg pushed away swords left and right, somehow surviving the onslaught of weaponry. Every time a sword struck the tip of Lancer's spear, tiny chips of red flaked off the legendary weapon. It was a testament to his skill that Lancer had managed to keep it from being shattered by Gilgamesh's superior arsenal.

"Hah! An interesting performance!" Gilgamesh called out, his arms folded. "If you manage to reach and strike me, I may consider remembering you afterwards."

"Thanks... for the compliment." Lancer grunted as he knocked away an especially heavy staff and took a step forward. "But I've got a lot more than this, Goldie. Don't disappoint me by being a one trick pony now."

Gilgamesh responded be increasing the number of weapons trying to eviscerate Lancer. The spearman halted momentarily as he tried to adjust to the superior amount of killing tools. Several blades brushed past his armour, cutting shallow gashes into his flesh. But soon enough he resumed his slow charge forward.

Knives and rapiers cut gashes in his flesh, but still he continued.

Axes and hammers threatened to obliterate him in one blow, yet he dodged by a hair and pressed on.

Lances and staves sliced off more and more of his body, yet the spearman did not retreat a single step. He had already long given up hope of surviving. He knew that if he Disengaged from the battle now, it would go against his beliefs, and that was not an option. He would not retreat, even if all that awaited was death. He had no choice but to move forward!

"_No matter what... we always... have... a choice..."_

He blinked, and a ducked as a decorative kukri almost took one of his ears off. "Gah... whatever! I'll break through no matter what!" He continued with renewed determination, trying to banish the weak thoughts from his head.

"He's... insane." Shirou whispered as he saw the spearman continue his charge into Gilgamesh's sword spam. "I thought what I did was crazy, but this is many times worse!"

"If anyone can do it, it's Lancer." Saber said weakly. "He is certainly fast enough, but in his condition, there is little chance of success."

"What? Sure he must be low on prana, but he's as fast as ever!" Shirou protested.

"It's not a matter of speed." Saber sighed. "Ever since Sakura's death, he has not been the same. You might not have noticed, but I saw it the second you struck him."

"I... you lost me." Shirou confessed.

"Just watch." Saber said. "You'll see soon enough, if you still refuse to flee as you should."

The youth focused his eyes on Lancer's movements, barely able to follow them even with Monohoshizao in his hands, and in seconds he saw it. Lancer was about to flawlessly deflect a heavy axe, but for a moment his body stiffened and it sliced into his shoulder before he could knock it away. A few seconds later, Lancer failed to stop a slow moving staff, and it struck his knee with a sickening crack. The spearman tightened his mouth and continued, but Shirou saw exactly what the problem was.

"Why... why is he hesitating?" He asked his former Servant. "He's better than this! Even that gold guy knows it!"

"It was his oath, Shirou." Saber said miserably. "Breaking an oath like that... its effects on Lancer were more than psychological. It has weakened him, and he knows it."

"But... can he win like that?"

Saber shook her head slowly. "No, Shirou. No he can't."

"Ah..." Shirou fell to his knees. "Damnit, and after all I said to Lancer, he's still helping us even though he knows he can't win..."

"I did not say victory was impossible, Shirou." Saber stood with difficulty. She breathed once more, and opened her eyes. Once more, her aura of royalty returned. Just from staring at her Shirou knew that his Servant would be able to fight at full power regardless of her wounds. "Alone, he will fail. But if I help him..." She clenched her invisible blade. "We might be able to win."

"But you..." Shirou couldn't finish his sentence. He bit his lip until he drew blood. It was frustrating. Being powerless was frustrating. Knowing there was nothing he could do... knowing that Saber would inevitably die trying to buy him time to live... knowing that even though there was someone in front of him in need of saving, he could do nothing was... horrifying.

Saber smiled at him one last time, and Shirou swore to himself that he would never forget that smile. As she turned from him and to the one sided battle, Shirou slammed the ground with his fist.

And then, he did something he had never considered before. With all hope gone, with his body barely able to move, with someone he cared about ready to die before his eyes, Shirou prayed for a miracle.

The ground rumbled.

The flow of weapons from Gilgamesh's gate stopped almost instantly. Lancer dug Gae Bolg into the ground for support as his wounds threatened to disable him. Saber almost lost her balance. Shirou looked up.

The wall behind Gilgamesh collapsed, dissolving into black flakes as if it had never existed. The Golden King whirled around, and stared with surprise at the creature behind him. He took a step back involuntarily just from the sight of it.

It moved with no grace at all. It was a puppet, being controlled by forces beyond humanity. Whatever intelligence or life had existed inside it was long gone, leaving behind only an empty shell that moved clumsily and jerkily.

Its head snapped up, almost breaking the puppet's neck. The hole in its heart was easily visible, yet Gilgamesh and Lancer both saw as flesh bubbled and knit together, closing over the wound. In seconds, it was as if the blemish that had ended a life had never been there.

It giggled. The sound was wrong, as if the puppet's vocal chords could not function properly. The laugh could have been a scream, and it wouldn't have sounded any more agonizing.

Finally, it seemed to have figured out how to move the puppet to its liking, and it spoke.

Matou Sakura's mouth opened, her empty eyes captured Shirou's wide orbs, and her lips curled up into a mocking grin. Matou Sakura's vocal chords rang out, and her throat shaped the sound as it exited her mouth.

The creature that was not Matou Sakura spoke words that did not belong to Matou Sakura.

"_**Wish granted."**_


	24. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: The Longest Night

The girl's body twisted. As the unknown force possessing it continued to work out the kinks in its new form, Sakura's limbs bent in ways that no human should have been able to. The creature watched, amused, as each of the fingers on the girl's left hand bent and broke, and reformed as if they had never been shattered within seconds.

It took a step forward, and as soon as its foot came into contact with the ground once more, the kneecap twisted, and buckled in on itself. Sakura almost lost her balance, but somehow stayed upright, as if being held up by invisible puppet strings. With a sharp crack the damaged knee reset itself.

With several sickening cracks, and many more unnatural movements, the creature brought its head up, moving its gaze from the shocked redhead to the golden king, even looking curiously at the suddenly angry spearman, matching his murderous glare with an amused glance. **"What's wrong?"** It laughed, a series of cracking sounds that didn't sound like they could come from any human throat. **"Is this not what you wished for**?" It fixed its eyes once more onto Shirou.

The redheaded magus stood up shakily, and took a weak step forward as if drawn towards the girl by puppet wires. "Sakura." He whispered. "What… what is this?" His voice cracked, showing just how strained his psyche was. One more push and Emiya Shirou's mind would shatter.

"**Why, your wish of course."** Sakura purred, somehow drawing out a suddenly sensual sound though she had spoken so rigidly earlier. **"Rejoice, Emiya Shirou. The Holy Grail has seen fit to grant you your earnest prayer." **She reached out with one hand towards the boy, and slowly he raised his hand to meet it as if he could eliminate the vast distance between them.

A golden flash interrupted the two's sudden reunion. In the blink of an eye, a glowing spear pierced through Sakura's arm, breaking through her elbow with a sickening crack and leaving her hand dangling limply from a few strands of flesh. "Silence." A low voice said, suddenly calm and collected despite its anger earlier. "You dare show yourself before me, abomination?" Gilgamesh glared at the schoolgirl with a gaze that could freeze any man, but Sakura simply giggled and turned away from Shirou, focusing her attention on the golden king.

"**Ah, I remember you."** She said neutrally, the smile sliding off her face. **"You did not succumb. You are the one who carries my taint yet retains his mind."**

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Gilgamesh said, still as calm as ever, but with an undercurrent of barely suppressed rage colouring his speech. "You, taint me? Such a thing will never happen. But to presume that you could overpower me was the first mistake you made, ten years ago. Deciding to show yourself before me once more will be your last." He raised a hand, and the gates behind him opened once more, just like they had earlier.

No, that wasn't it. Shirou could see it. Somehow, this feeling was more fearsome than before. The weapons he saw… each once was leagues above the weapons Gilgamesh had fired earlier. It would be safe to say that the difference between the previous Noble Phantasms and the new ones was the difference between night and day.

"No!" The boy rushed forward without even thinking. It didn't matter that Sakura was talking weird. It didn't matter that she moved like a puppet on a string. It didn't matter that there was something completely _wrong_ about her. All that mattered is that she was alive, and in danger once more! "I won't let you-"

"And neither will I." Shirou stopped as an iron grip seized his shoulder and pulled the boy backwards. "Don't do it, kid." Lancer said as he glared at Sakura. "That thing isn't your girlfriend. It's just a monster using her body to move around. Better to let Goldie over there finish it off."

"What are you saying?" Shirou struggled futilely against Lancer's hand. "She's alive! Look! Her wound healed, her heart is beating, and those are her eyes!"

"Not her mind. Not her soul. I felt my spear crush her heart. I saw the light in her eyes go out. She died, and there's no returning from such a thing." Lancer responded calmly. "Face it, she's dead. That's not your girlfriend."

"You…" Shirou's struggles continued, weakened, as the weak hope he had built up in his heart shattered once more. "I can't…"

"Disappear from the world." Gilgamesh said, oblivious to the pests around him. He had only eyes for Sakura at that moment. He snapped his fingers, and the barrage started. Glistening, gleaming, glowing weapons shot towards Sakura, at speeds completely eclipsing what Shirou had seen earlier. Saber would not be able to stop them. Neither would Lancer, especially in his state. But Sakura…

With dull thuds the swords and spears sliced through the girl's body, showering the area around her with blood and bits of flesh. It was an instant kill, too quick to even comprehend. Several vital organs pierced. Dozens of fractured bones. Pulped insides that resembled chunks of meat more than a human body. No human or Servant could survive such a thing.

Shirou collapsed. His frantic struggling ended the moment he realized that his miracle had been broken. Tears streamed from his eyes as he silently mourned once more.

But the girl simply laughed. With torn apart lungs, she laughed. With a dislocated jawbone, she laughed. And she continued laughing even as her body began to knit itself together, erasing the many wounds from it as if she had never sustained injury. The only sign that Sakura had ever been hurt was the blood staining the surrounding area. She straightened, and her coy smile became a wild grin as she looked towards Gilgamesh.

She took one step forward, and the earth cracked. From breaks in the concrete, shadows lengthened and twisted. Even with the lack of a sun illuminating the battlefield, it was easy to see the darkness rise from the ground, becoming more than the absence of light. No, it was more like the absence of good.

Several tentacles of shadow darted towards Gilgamesh, crawling across the floor like snakes or whips flying through the air. Spears of darkness launched themselves without Sakura lifting a finger. It was obvious that only she could control them just from the telltale sign of her magecraft.

As the dark shadows neared Gilgamesh, he frowned slightly, and instantly they were perforated and slashed apart by a dozen beautiful blades before they could touch the golden king. The weapons reoriented themselves in the air and sailed towards Sakura, but she just laughed once more. A dark shield of shadow sprang from the ground in front of her. The swords stabbed through it instantly, but slowed down enough that they didn't reach the possessed girl. Sakura tilted her head, and the once golden blades shuddered as the darkness invaded their being. In moments they had become mockeries of their former selves, corrupted absolutely. Sakura willed the wall of shadows to throw the weapons back to their owner, and he countered with even more weapons, no longer frowning, but outright scowling.

"…what the hell… what the hell is this!" Shirou screamed. "I don't understand!" How had Sakura come back to life? Where had she acquired this dark power? How had she regenerated fatal wounds so easily?

And… what had happened to the shy girl that he loved? Where had her heart gone?

"Shirou… I'm afraid that I have no idea as well." The weak reply came from beside the boy and Lancer. Saber leaned weakly against a wall and watched the battle before her. Despite her pride, she was thankful that for whatever reason the two combatants had chosen to ignore her and her allies. "But this is your chance. Flee now with Lancer, while those two are distracted."

"No way." Shirou growled. He raised his head, and an uncharacteristic fury shone in his eyes. "I'm not… I'm not letting Sakura go again. I don't care what she's become, I'll save her this time!" He tried wrenching his arm from Lancer's grip, but it was useless. Even weakened, the spearman possessed enough power to easily stop any human.

"Hold it, kid." He said coolly. "I don't think you know what you're getting into. If you run into that battle as you are, you'll die for sure. Hell, even I don't think I could survive more than a few seconds in that crossfire." He frowned as the two invincible warriors fought on, oblivious to the ants before them. Sakura continued laughing even as weapons tore apart her flesh, and Gilgamesh's frown only deepened as his weapons continually proved to be ineffective.

"I don't care." Shirou yelled. "I'm not going to let this miracle go to waste! I've got a second chance, and I'm not losing it!"

"You'll die!" Lancer roared, losing his composure. "You don't get it, do you? She's dead! Your girlfriend died under my spear! I felt her life end! What you have there isn't her; it's just some dark power possessing her corpse and using it to move around! You have to face the facts. It's over, and the dead can't be brought back to life!"

"Lancer… would you listen to yourself for one moment?" Shirou asked. He glared at the blue spearman. "Didn't you tell me not to make the same mistake you did? Not to let go of the one I love? What about that!"

Lancer's grip slackened, and his eyes were wide open as he absorbed Shirou's words. "That is… kid, at times… we must purge things from this world because they shouldn't exist. Even… even if it means losing the one you love." He muttered the words weakly, unable to believe them himself.

"You don't mean that." Shirou said confidently. "I can sense it. You're just like me. Willing to break the rules in order to save someone you love. Because you made a mistake once, and you don't want to repeat it again. Isn't that right?"

The boy's analysis had been spot on. "You…" Lancer frowned. "Since when did you get so perceptive? You're not supposed to be that smart."

"It's because I looked at your legend." Shirou said. "When you told me about Connla… you said you used Gae Bolg for the first time. But that's wrong, isn't it? That was the second time. The first was-"

"Stop." Lancer said. "Don't you dare go any further. That's none of your business."

"It was your mistake." Shirou continued, his words becoming louder and louder instead of trailing off. "You regret what happened to this day! Isn't that right? Your wish is to bring back that person you killed with your own hands because it's your greatest regret!"

"…shut up. You're completely wrong." Lancer glared at the boy with a murderous look in his eyes. "I don't regret what happened that day at all. And you may have read your history books, but you know nothing about me."

"I know you're a Heroic Spirit." Shirou said through gritted teeth as his hands desperately tried to loosen Lancer's iron grip. "And you were summoned because you have a wish you want fulfilled. Isn't there a miracle you seek too? If that's the case, then why shouldn't I hope for one as well!"

"That's… my only wish was to fight." Lancer said as his grip slackened. "That's what it was… what it should be." He averted his eyes from Shirou's fiery gaze. "That's… all I ever wanted. Getting to save someone was just a bonus."

"Then fight." Shirou growled, taking Lancer off guard by pushing towards the blue spearman instead of pulling away. The two warriors were eye to eye, and despite the death match going on in the background, neither one backed down. "Go ahead and die fighting. That's your miracle. You got to fight even after you died. And this is mine. I've received another chance to save her. And I'm not letting it go to waste!"

A trembling sword pushed into Lancer's neck, and he stiffened. He turned his head, and growled. "Saber… you shouldn't even be able to move." He said.

"I… will move… if it is for Shirou." The pale woman gasped. Her armour was gone, transforming into prana in a desperate attempt to buy some more time on her plain. She held her sword against Lancer's neck, but he knew she wouldn't even be able to cut him with no strength. "Go from here. We are not strong enough… to save her, or win." The girl warrior looked like she wanted to cry, but continued without letting a single tear fall. "This is our loss. Do not let this be your last battle, Lancer."

"That's what I've been trying to tell this kid." Lancer argued his grip still as tight as ever. Even as two monsters attacked each other in the background with enough power to destroy the city, he was perfectly calm. "But he's not listening!" With his free hand, he blocked a jab from Shirou without even looking. "Talk about crazy in love…"

"Shirou, please." Saber faced her former Master now. "Go. This isn't how you are meant to fall."

"I can't, Saber." Shirou said. Even as Lancer released him, Shirou couldn't move from his spot. Even as tears flowed from his eyes, even as Lancer sighed and looked upon the battle with regret, Shirou refused to run. "I can't leave her. A superhero wouldn't leave someone to die."

In the background, the terrifying devastation continued. Gilgamesh and Sakura hadn't moved a bit, raining devastation upon the neighborhood. By some miracle the noisy clanging of weapons hadn't drawn anyone to the scene, but it couldn't last much longer.

Three more golden swords penetrated through the thick veil of shadows Sakura put up to futilely defend her, sinking into the girl's limbs. She pulled them out with tendrils of darkness and threw them right back at Gilgamesh, only for them to be rebuffed by a mirror-like shield. The king had stopped yelling. In fact, he had stopped talking at all. His face only showed cold determination as he flung even more weapons against his monstrous opponent. The gate behind him had grown from firing perhaps 8 or ten weapons at once to releasing two dozen of them simultaneously. Yes, he was truly serious now.

And she was paying for it. With every weapon that sliced, stabbed, and bludgeoned her body, Sakura's smile grew more and more tense. Her regeneration began to slow, and as she pulled a gladius out of her jugular it became clear that the even the dark force possessing Matou Sakura was having trouble keeping up with the golden king.

"Heh. So this is how it ends." Lancer muttered under his breath as he focused on what little remaining prana he had to heal his wounds. "That girl bought us some time, and we wasted it like fools. She won't last more than a minute at this rate."

"What are you going to do?" Shirou asked, now supporting Saber and looking upon the battle with tortured eyes. "Will you help me save her, or run away?"

"I don't give a damn about what you think I'll do." Lancer said. "I'm just gonna do what I do best and rejoin this fight. I've been out of it arguing with you for too damn long, and it's getting on my nerves."

"B-but you'll die!" Saber was the one to speak this time. "They're ignoring us because to them we are no more than insects! If you join this battle you won't last more than a second against both of them!"

"Shut up." Gae Bolg materialized in Lancer's hand, as chipped and cracked as ever. The damage from Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms remained, but Lancer didn't seem even a bit worried. "I've been hanging around with you people for too long, letting you slow me down with stupid words like justice and saving people." He twirled the spear experimentally, and this time it spun properly, emitting glowing red particles of malevolent prana.

"I've had enough." The spearman turned away from Shirou and Saber. "You do what you want, and I'll do what I want. This is the end of our friendship. You two can die or run away, it doesn't matter to me."

He looked up, and his mouth was once more curved into a grin. "As for me." He said, without a shred of dishonesty in his words. "I think I'll beat those two 'gods' into the ground right now. If you've got a problem with that, then you can bitch about it to someone else, because I don't give a damn."

Shirou and Saber didn't say anything. They had been left speechless.

Gilgamesh, however, had no problem with speaking.

"Didn't I tell you long ago that you should die?" The golden king said as more of his weapons penetrated Sakura's shields and body. "That was not a suggestion, monster. But since you've seen fit to try and disobey me, I shall have to carry it out myself." Four knives shot through each of Sakura's limbs with picture perfect accuracy, spearing her to a brick wall and preventing her from moving. She struggled, but for once didn't use her tendrils of shadow to remove the weapons. Or more accurately, she couldn't.

Still, the monster didn't stop giggling. Instead of removing the weapons, the wall Sakura was pinned to dissolved into flakes of darkness just as numerous tentacles rose up from tiny cracks in the ground to try and attack Gilgamesh from all angles.

For a moment it seemed as if her surprise attack had worked, but Sakura's face fell as she watched all of her spells evaporate into dust, cut apart by the king's weapons. She collapsed to her knees, no longer smiling as her magic faded away.

"Is that it? Run out of prana, have you?" Gilgamesh withdrew a simple yet brilliant blade from his vault as he spoke. "A poor use of your resources. If a magus from Uruk had access to such a prana battery, he would have been set for life, yet you've burned through everything you have with such horrible efficiency."

He brought his hand back, prepared to throw the sword himself and end Sakura's life once more. It would not be murder, but merely a returning of things to their rightful places. After all, what is dead may never die. Killing Sakura Matou once more would not be murder.

But sadly, the return of stability did not come to pass. Gilgamesh cursed under his breath as he brought his sword closer to his body instead of farther away, blocking the point of a red spear from striking his golden armour.

"You again! Always getting in my way!" He slashed, and Lancer nimbly dodged the point of the king's sword, leaping back, the grin on his face brighter than ever.

"Hey, don't get angry now." The spearman said. "I'm the one who should be offended! Forgetting all about me as soon as that damn undead girl showed up! How's that any way to treat an opponent?" He lunged, aiming the tip of Gae Bolg at Gilgamesh's head, the only place on his body not covered by armour.

However, now that he wasn't surprised, it was easy for Gilgamesh to conjure up a way to stop Lancer's thrust. A glittering shield appeared between Lancer and Gilgamesh, just long enough for the king to jump back and put some distance between his face and Lancer's weapon.

He opened his mouth to yell out a curse, but was silenced as another attack forced him back. This time it was a tendril of darkness that crept underneath his sight and reached up to wrap around his legs. The darkness caught around golden armour, but only stayed that way for a tiny moment before another priceless treasure sliced it to bits.

As soon as Gilgamesh was distracted, Lancer leapt once more and struck, this time managing to shave off a lock of his opponent's hair before being rebuffed.

"You-!" Gilgamesh roared, and the entire space around him was instantly sliced apart by more than 50 different weapons. Both Lancer and Sakura fell backwards, lucky to still be alive. "So you recognize your weakness and seek to fight me together… you disgusting pests!" He spread his arms, one pointing at Lancer and the other towards the still recovering Sakura. As he snapped his fingers, two different volleys of weapons shot in both directions, menacing both of the king's opponents.

The two responded in completely different ways. Lancer leapt and swerved, nimbly moving to and fro while weaving between the weapons. As if dodging rain itself, he evaded death by tiny increments, frequently sustaining scratches or wounds, yet somehow managing to pull through with his life intact.

By contract, Sakura formed a shell of dark energy around herself. Though it was only as thin as paper, her newest shield was an improvement over her old ones in that it actually held up against the volley of blades instead of being torn apart. When the king's attack ended, the shield collapsed, revealing the frowning girl standing, unharmed.

Just as Lancer got ready to charge again, and Sakura conjured up a fresh batch of dark tentacles, their opponent stopped.

It was instantly apparent that they had gone too far. Whatever the reason, the king was angry. Not simply irritated or annoyed, as he had been before, but well and certainly pissed off.

"…first, you disobey me." He raised his hand, and an intricate golden blade appeared inside.

"Then… you attack me." The blade, which resembled a key more than anything, turned in the air.

"And now, you dare to wound me." Behind him, a spider web of crimson veins appeared in the air, travelling upwards from Gilgamesh's back. They stretched to the sky, signifying the true scope of the Gate of Babylon.

Lancer took one step back, and Sakura found herself doing the same as well.

"This is enough." Gilgamesh muttered. "I have been lax. This world has forgotten what it is like to feel my wrath." The red veins disappeared, leaving behind only a single glowing light, hovering in front of its King. "It has forgotten pain and destruction."

From the light descended a single weapon, completely alien to the others Gilgamesh had used.

"It has forgotten death and despair."

Hundreds of meters away, with Saber leaning against his shoulder, Shirou lifted a hand to his head as a splitting headache threatened to overcome him. He hadn't been able to run, and had sat in place staring at the weapons and battle. But this sword was different. He couldn't read it. He couldn't even comprehend it.

A cool hand on his forehead dulled the boy's pain, and he turned to weakly smile at his dying Servant.

His smile fell, however, as soon as he glimpsed whose hand that actually was.

"No more. I shall remind you." Gilgamesh said. "Once more, witness my power, and prostrate yourselves before me." As his hand closed around the sword, both Lancer and Sakura found themselves frozen, not from fear or awe, but a feeling they couldn't even describe.

He raised the crimson blade into the air, and the 3 segments that made up its conical shape began to turn in opposite directions. Wind swirled around where Gilgamesh stood; the eye of the hurricane. Sakura dug her now paper-like tendril of darkness into the ground, just as Lancer stabbed Gae Bolg into a tree for support.

Space twisted as the alien sword tore apart the World itself. Ruptures opened, calling forth waves of negative energy. The world shook apart, and for a single moment, they all knew true fear.

And then the sword came down.

"**Enuma Eli-"**

"_Calm yourself."_

The wind died. The sword stopped spinning. The King froze in the process of bringing destruction to his opponents. A single sentence had stopped his wrath completely. A phrase that no one but Lancer and Gilgamesh had heard.

"_You know yourself that Ea is not a weapon worthy of use against opponents like those."_

The voice spoke once more, and this time Lancer recognized it.

"_They do not deserve to die by your hand."_ Kotomine Kirei said smoothly, from several kilometres away. Sitting in his church, sipping a glass of wine, he spoke once more. _"My King, surely there are better targets for your blade?"_

"...have you grown proud?" Gilgamesh spoke to thin air. "Do you believe that you are wiser than I?"

Kotomine spoke again, not the slightest bit nervous. _"I have merely suggested that you rethink your choice. I do not know of anything better, but surely after looking at the facts once more you will come up with an even better solution to this annoyance."_

"You interrupted me as I was about to punish these whelps." Gilgamesh growled, angrier than ever. "You… do you actually presume to be able to control me? I will not be manipulated by you!"

"_Kill me, then."_ Kotomine responded through the link between Master and Servant. _"But what I say remains true. Ea is not a weapon to kill the likes of them. Your anger is glorious, befitting a king, even, but you also know that there are better ways to solve this problem of yours. Besides, if you truly unleashed all of your power, this entire city would cease to exist. The grail, gone. Saber, gone. Your source of energy, gone. All I ask for is your mercy, King of Heroes."_

Gilgamesh shook with anger, but miraculously, the false priests words seemed to have done the trick. The king ground his teeth, and glared at both Lancer and Sakura.

"Destroy each other." He commanded. "I care not who kills who. Whichever one of you survives, seek me out, and I shall execute you personally."

With those parting words, Ea dissipated. Gilgamesh turned, and began to walk away, uncaring of the other two's opinions. Sakura smiled as her would be killer left, secure in her unlife once more.

"Hey, stop!" Lancer, however, had different ideas. "Are you running away from our fight!" He moved to attack Gilgamesh, but stumbled as his numerous wounds sapped him of strength.

"I care not for the opinions of insects. Kill that wretched monster, and perhaps I shall deign to face you once more. Otherwise you are not worthy of being killed by me." Before Lancer or Sakura could reply with a spear/tentacle to the face, the air around Gilgamesh bent once more, and before him appeared a slightly charred and dented golden plane, as unlikely as such a thing was. Gilgamesh hopped on, and shot Lancer one last sour look before the plane shot towards the sky, leaving the battlefield for good.

"…don't act cool like that, you bastard. Running away is running away, no matter how you try to twist it." Lancer muttered under his breath. He was remarkably chipper for someone who had been a single madman's word away from being incinerated by an unstoppable Noble Phantasm.

However, even the slight relaxation from Gilgamesh's exit wasn't enough for Sakura's tentacle of darkness to catch Lancer off guard.

As her attack approached, he leapt upwards, landing on the only remaining wall that hadn't been obliterated during the battle. He glared at Sakura. "Don't you ever take a break?" He asked, disbelieving.

The possessed girl responded by giggling. **"Oh I will. But at the moment, I feel a bit peckish. You'll make a nice snack. Once I've eaten you, I'll be powerful enough to devour that girl calling herself King."** She rose, the weapons in her limbs long healed from any wounds. Despite her earlier failings, it seemed that she had found a reserve source of prana from somewhere, and her powers had returned fully, or at least enough to fight once more.

"Oy, stop that." Lancer said, grumbling and looking away even as he nimbly dodged two more flailing tentacles. "Speaking like that while wearing her face is just creepy."

"**As if you have any right to talk, promise breaker."** The dark woman replied with yet another inhuman giggle. **"I can still feel your spear in my heart. The spear that was supposed to be protecting me."** Sakura dug the fingers of her left hand into her chest, and Lancer watched with a morbid fascination as the girl tore out her own heart, laughing the entire time.

"**Look. Even now the curse persists, despite my healing abilities."** The torn apart organ pumped once, spurting blood all over the street, before Sakura returned it to her chest as if putting a children's toy back together. **"How cruel. Even if I do bring back his princess, that stupid boy will never see her wake up."**

"Don't talk to me about cruel." Lancer growled. "I'm not the one who disgraced the dead. I don't know who or what you are, but if I ever run into your real body, you'd better run, because I won't let you off easy." Even as he spoke, though, he fell to one knee, woozy from his numerous wounds.

"**Ha!"** Lancer's threat only made the possessed girl laugh even harder. It was plain to see that she was only gaining amusement from his anger, despite how near she herself was to death. **"This is irony of the highest level."** She laughed.** "I can see now why the priest was amused enough by your struggles to spare your life. I shall also be most amused when your entire world comes crashing down upon your shoulders, you foolish, foolish man!"**

"You…" Lancer's eyes burned with rage. He forced his wounded body to rise again, propping himself up temporarily with Gae Bolg. "You're talking big for someone who's barely got enough prana to function." He growled. "If we fight now, even someone like me will be enough to kill you again!"

"**Just try it, fool."** Sakura crossed her arms and jutted her chin upwards, exposing her throat for a killing strike. **"But no matter what, that spear of yours will never reach me."**

"Hah!" Not patient enough to reply to her taunts, Lancer channeled his rage into his limbs. Even if he could barely move… even he was completely out of prana… he would fight until the end. With a roar, Lancer forced himself forward, rushing past the few remaining shadow walls Sakura had up, and thrusting point blank at her head with all of his remaining strength.

With a sharp thunk, the tip of Gae Bolg penetrated the wall behind Sakura. As it did so, a few locks of her hair fell to the ground, neatly severed by the sharp weapon.

But there was no blood. Indeed, Lancer's target was unhurt, and stood smirking in front of the man, revelling in her invincibility.

"Damn… it…" Cu Chulainn wavered, and Gae Bolg disappeared. He sank to his knees, defenceless before the being of darkness that had possessed the corpse of someone he'd sworn to protect.

"**It is a shame that it still exists within you."** Sakura said, suddenly no longer laughing. **"Hope is a painful thing, is it not? You and I know very well how much it hurts, and how liberating it can be to lose it."** With a jerky movement, two tentacles wrapped themselves around Lancer's arms, pulling the man backwards until he was flat on his back, eyes staring emptily at the night sky. **"That tiny spark of hope within you won't let you hurt me. The hope within you insists that you can still protect this girl."**

"Fuck… you…" He said. His eyes burned with anger despite the fact that his own body had given up on him.

"**I'm sure you would like to."** The being of darkness replied.** "But more than that, you'd want 'me' alive, wouldn't you?"** She giggled again, and ripped open her torn apart blouse, presenting a bloodied yet unmarked chest.** "This is an interesting vessel." **It remarked.** "A patch job, barely functional, and broken enough to allow something like me to exist, yet it's resilient enough to resist breaking down from the strain of bearing such energy. If I actually cared, I'd compliment its designer."**

"…who… are you?" Lancer asked. He breathed heavily, not from some perverse lust but because the simple strain of moving his lungs now required too much energy to keep up forever. "No… what… are you?"

Sakura smiled again, and for the first time Lancer realized that it was a hollow grin. Despite her monstrosity, 'it' was not yet satisfied. It leaned close, straddling the wounded warrior, until its head was right next to his. Slowly, it whispered into his ear.

"**I am that which can grant your wish."**

Lancer stiffened, and his eyes widened. His mouth hung open, speechless. Gae Bolg shuddered and disappeared in a shower of red sparks. This was not because of shock, as it may have appeared to any outside observer, but because moments before he had an arm shoved through his chest.

He coughed, and a splatter of blood covered Sakura's white back. Her smile grew, and she leaned in until she was all but draped over the defenceless spearman in a mockery of what should normally have been an erotic pose. As she moved, her hand sank deeper into Lancer's chest, tearing apart his body from the inside out.

"**You'd like that, wouldn't you?"** She- no, it whispered into his ears again, breathing softly. Were this any other situation her words would have been seductive, but when the object of her 'affections' was a half dead Servant, all it produced was a sickening shudder. **"Should I bring her back too? As a twisted mockery of her old self? Perhaps she'd want to fuck you even more, then. I'm sure you'd love to pierce her with your spear and have her respond, instead of lying there like the cold, dead, **_**corpse**_** she is now."**

"Get… off…" Lancer shuddered, but raised a hand and closed it around Sakura's neck. He pushed forward, trying to remove her, but his strength was gone, and all that remained was a shadow of his past prowess. Quickly sensing the futility of his actions, he let his hand drop, and squeezed his eyes closed, desperately trying to gather enough prana to go into spirit form.

"**I don't think so."** With a sharp squelch, Sakura's hand closed around the dead warrior's heart, squeezing sharply. Lancer screamed then against his will, and the sound of his anguished cries brought another bout of innocent laughter from Sakura's corpse. **"It is fascinating, actually. I never would have figured you to be someone who harbored dreams of raising the dead. I'd have thought you'd accept the loss and move on. But I see now that you are a loyal dog to the end. I'd need to eat you up before you'd ever obey me, unless…"** She squeezed his heart again, bringing another about cough filled with blood from Lancer's mouth.

"**Kill those two."** She purred. **"That annoying idealistic brat and that dead girl calling herself a King… Slaughter them like animals, and I shall return her to life. As the last Servant, I would be forced to grant your wish."**

"…fuck… you." Lancer repeated his previous words and breathed heavily. As air passed into his lungs, a drop of defiance appeared in his gaze once more. "That's… never… gonna happen. Besides… I've got no strength to do even that." He squeezed his hand into a fist and tried vainly to catch Sakura off guard with a punch to the head.

The possessed girl caught the fist with her own dainty hand and crushed it instantly. Lancer choked at the pain, but miraculously managed not to yell out in pain this time. **"I can give you back your strength."** The monster purred.** "Restore your power. Heal you."** With a wave of her finger, Lancer's crushed hand was restored instantly.** "Just become my pet. You can't kill me anyway, with that promise of yours still holding, so you might as well continue to protect me until I grant your wish."**

Lancer's head buzzed, and his chest throbbed as Sakura's hand crushed his heart. He faintly felt his little remaining prana trickle away into her as she slowly absorbed his essence. Soon, he'd fade from existence entirely. His sense of touch was already fading, the pain from his wounds dulling into a rhythmic throb, the pulse of a dying man.

His hearing was next to go, the noise and buzzing fading into the background. He could still clearly hear 'Sakura's' whispering, but the rest became muffled background noise. Burning, crumbling… chanting? Who could be chanting at such a time?

He opened his mouth, but promptly forgot what he had been about to do as his mind slowed down. What was it? Was he supposed to breath? Swear at her? Growl? Or… was he about to agree? That sounded like it. Yes, he was going to agree to her demands… right?

He couldn't remember. Sight was next, and the world faded into a messy watercolour, as colours and hues mixed together to form an incomprehensible piece of artwork. Sakura's face morphed before him, becoming a blank canvas and revealing its true colours. Miraculously, his sense of smell remained. He could smell blood, and ash. An acrid, sour taste of dark magecraft wormed its way into his nostrils, and Lancer coughed again as it entered his lungs. And finally… something burning bright.

Something warm like the light of the sun upon his skin.

The clean sound of a perfectly sharpened blade slicing through the air.

The glowing blade of a magnificent sword pressed against Sakura Matou's neck.

"Release him, monster." Saber commanded, once more clad in her armour and wielding a glorious sword with both hands. She stood tall, without any weakness in her stance.

"**You…"** Sakura stiffened. **"How are you still in this world? Your time was up, you had lost your Master… don't tell me…"** She laughed, shaking as the action rocked her body. **"Did you consume that former Master of yours for sustenance? Such a dark act, from the King of Knights… it's exquisite!"**

"Saber would never do such a thing." Another, younger voice came from next to Saber. Lancer's failing eyesight identified it as Shirou, standing tall with barely a wound on him, clutching something wrapped up in his torn shirt in his right hand. "And you would never be doing something like this, Sakura." His expression was hard, with none of his previous weakness. Only resolve coloured his eyes now.

"I have many, many questions for you." A new voice entered the fray, standing directly behind Lancer so that he couldn't see a thing. But he had heard this voice before…

"I want to know why you're doing this. I want to know how you came to possess such powerful magecraft. I want to know how you're able to possess someone's body like that." The voice paused. "But right now, I don't care about questions. I only have one thing to tell you, monster."

Ah, that was it. A spark of realization appeared in Lancer's dead eyes. So the lass had finally arrived…

"Get the hell out of my sister's body." Tohsaka Rin snarled.

"**You-!"** Sakura opened her mouth to scream, but before she could do such a thing she found herself roughly pulled upwards by Shirou's strong arms. She screamed, and a number of dark, shadowy tentacles appeared out of thin air to strike at her enemies.

In a single movement, all of them fell apart, sliced away by Saber's shining sword. Her movements were back to normal. No, in fact, they were leagues apart from her previous ones. It was the difference between night and day, the sun and the moon, the ground and the sky. This was Saber at the height of her power, capable of destroying any foe, even an invincible demon.

Shirou cast away the makeshift cover on his left hand, revealing a crooked, awkward blade. But it was a familiar one, nonetheless. Its name was…

"**Rule Breaker!"**

With a single thrust, the dagger found its way to Sakura's body, slicing into her flesh, but more than that, stabbing into the unholy magecraft manipulating her body. She screamed, and stiffened as the contract allowing the foreign entity to keep her moving disappeared from the world. As her screaming stopped, so too did her movements, slowing until she hung in the air for a long moment, then slumped backwards, utterly still once more. Unhurt, and free of her possession.

"Sakura…" Shirou cradled the girl with a gentleness that contrasted his hard expression. He nervously felt her neck, and breathed a sigh of relief as he felt a pulse. His entire body relaxed, and he slumped backward into Saber's chest, out of strength now that his goal was complete. Despite all odds, they had accomplished a miracle.

Rin frowned as she looked at Sakura. A conflicted expression. To go to her, or stay apart, as she had for years? It was a question she couldn't bring herself to answer, so instead, she chose to ask an easier one.

"What are you doing, Lancer?" She asked as she noticed the wounded warrior up and limping away from the group, blood pouring from his chest.

"Going." He muttered weakly. "I'm your enemy now. As the last Servants, we can't be allies anymore." His wounds slowly knit together as he used the last of his prana to heal himself, but the large hole in his chest still bled profusely. Despite the fact that he should've been dead, he leaned on the last remaining wall and limped away, trailing blood behind him.

"We don't think that." Rin said. "Come on, you can barely walk in this state. Just stay at Emiya's house a bit longer. That idiot wouldn't mind."

"I would." Lancer snapped, and spat out a mouthful of blood. "I'm done. I never should've teamed up with you guys in the first place. Perhaps if it was just you, lass, but…" He shot a glance at Saber. "Now that you're a Master again, I don't see such a thing happening."

Rin opened her mouth to protest, but Saber's hand on her shoulder silenced her. "Leave him, Rin." Saber said. "His pride has been wounded, along with his heart. Men like Lancer need time to themselves."

"Idiots like him, you mean." Rin said. But despite her anger, she turned away from the rapidly disappearing warrior, focusing on her sleeping sister once more. "Fine. Let's get Sakura to Emiya's house, then. And you two can explain to me what the hell happened tonight."

Saber nodded, and moved to pick up Sakura. Shirou, however, had different ideas. He took the sleeping girl in his arms and weakly rose to his feet. After a shared glance, Saber and Rin both shrugged, and left Sakura to her overly devoted boyfriend.

As the tired group walked home, similarly, Lancer stumbled away without a proper destination in mind. He had vague thoughts of Bazett's house and perhaps sleeping there, but his mind was too lost to actually plot a course there, let alone think of forcing his tired body to take a rooftop route. Instead, he continued limping and walking without a plan, just moving for the sake of movement. He felt the last of his usable prana fade away as he sealed his chest wound, but no other prana came to replace it. Kotomine was being stingy again.

"Fuck." He breathed, and limped on.

As Shirou, Rin, and Saber discovered the Emiya home ransacked and Ilya missing, Lancer found his way into an empty alley.

As they futilely tried to wake up Sakura, the spearman's strength ran out, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to rise to his feet.

And as Rin explained, with unshed tears in her eyes, that Sakura would never wake up again, Cu Chulainn the failed hero closed his eyes and sank into another nightmare.


	25. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Recuperation

_Ow._

_These fucking chains just keep getting tighter and tighter, don't they? First I couldn't move, then they started digging in, and now I can't even feel my arms. This sucks._

_Ow._

_Why does my body hurt so much? I've been through worse, yet I have no energy. I've shouldered worse, but these hands of mine feel so weak. I've endured immeasurable pain, but the will to go on I once reached for won't come anymore._

_Ow._

_The moon's gone, and with it, so is _it._ It's just me now. Talking to my own damn self. Perhaps I'm really going crazy? If so I suppose hearing voices in my head would prove it._

_Ow._

_Why do they have to tighten again so quickly!? This is ridiculous!_

_But perhaps it's what I deserve. Maybe this is my punishment. I'm still here, but that voice is gone. Has it fled like I told it to, or are my ears failing as well?_

_No, that has to be it. That voice wouldn't leave me. It's with me, always. It waits for me._

_It promised._

_And what would you know about promises, oath breaker?_

_Ah! The fog… it's clearing… but who are you? Who are you, stepping through that devilish mist so easily? Why does your voice sound so familiar yet different? If only I could see with more detail…_

_From the start I have been here, even before you took up residence. It is mere arrogance to assume that you are the first of your kind._

_You… if I could see past this fucking fog you wouldn't be so scary!_

_Wait a second. Scary? Fear? Me!? Impossible!_

_Who the hell are you?_

_No one that matters, at least not anymore. As of now I am simply observing and waiting for the end of this farce of a War. My part in your regrettable existence has ended._

_I don't know who you are, but don't expect me to just sit here and take that insult. It's definitely not regrettable!_

_Perhaps not to you, who has never once hesitated, but to the rest of the world your existence is a tragedy. Sorrow follows you, and you blindly dig yourself deeper into the hole you created. A foolish man dying a foolish death. Look at you now, shackled and weaker than a mewling child. Isn't it a disgrace to your origin?_

_A disgrace? As if I care about such things. I exist, therefore I am. Wasn't there something like that? The very fact that I am here means it was worth it. I'm alive. I survived. And that fact means I'll be able to do whatever my heart desires so long as I remain 'alive'! I can fight to my heart's content! And my wish can still be granted!_

_Aren't you mistaking something? I did not think it possible, but could it be that you actually consider yourself to be the same person that created your 'legend'? Ha. Don't be so foolish. That man died long ago, doing what he believed in. This pillar and the shackles that bind you are proof of that. You are but an imperfect copy! The real you would never be in this situation! He would never allow himself to go soft and be shackled! He would never doubt his own power! And he would certainly never regret someone's death enough to wish to reverse it!_

_I'm tired of your laughing, Mr. Know-it-all. If you're going to keep throwing meaningless bullshit at me, then step out of that fog and show yourself already! Either leave me to my nightmares or get the hell out of them!_

_Fine. If your skull is that thick, then I suppose I'll humour you. Once more I shall grant your wish, warrior. You and I shall spar, and if you should happen to get the better of me then I might even reverse the death you so regret._

_Ah, there you go! You don't look like much, kid. Are those tattoos supposed to make you look tough or something? You look so frail I could beat you with one hand tied behind my back!_

_By all means, try. But can you do even that, brute? I'm not your true opponent here, am I?_

…_!_

_It's heavy. My body's still heavy. These chains are heavy. The air is heavy. I can't stand. If these chains weren't keeping me up I wouldn't even be able to keep myself from falling. Is this just because I'm having a nightmare, or is it prana deprivation taking its toll on me? Am I truly a walking corpse?_

_Go ahead. See if you can beat me with that dying body of yours._

_Damn you, just standing there! I'll break these chains! Just watch! And when I do, I'll kick your ass, you punk!_

_Like I said, try as much as you like. Since I have nothing better to do, I suppose I'll wait here for the miracle you so easily say you can perform. And perhaps I'll even… carve you up a bit._

_Gah! My stomach… you fucking bastard…_

_If it hurts so much, why don't you wake up?_

_Ugh… Fuck you! Even I wouldn't attack an unarmed man, and there's no way I'm gonna run from you! Where's your self respect? Where's your pride? If you were a real man you'd free me from the chains so we could have a real fight!_

_Says the man who can't even move. _

_Ack! I'll die… I'll really die._

_Oh stop being a baby and wake up._

_Wait, what?_

"I said: Stop being a baby and wake up already!"

An especially vicious poke to his stomach was enough to finally snap Lancer out of his unusual dream, and he groaned as he felt an intruding finger hit where a barely healed wound had been.

"I'm up, I'm up!" He complained as his eyes slowly adjusted to the suddenly bright light that replaced his nightmare's monochrome fog. "Geeze, can't you give a guy some sleep?" He rubbed his eyes with an aching hand and blinked again to shake himself awake. His head was fuzzier than a rabbit's fur, and it seemed as if every part of his body was competing to see which was sorer.

"You've been sleeping for almost a day since I found you." The same voice that had woken him replied, somehow sounding as if it was accusing him of getting stabbed multiple times and crashing in the nearest alley. "And you were covered in blood, too! You're lucky I even decided to wake you up instead of just letting you starve in your sleep!" Despite the morbid subject matter, the voice was perky and energetic instead of worried or apprehensive.

"Ugh… I'm perfectly fine." Lancer complained. He pushed himself up on one elbow and the person kneeling beside him retreated to give the man some space to breathe. "Those swords probably hadn't been sharpened in a couple thousand years anyway." He muttered to himself as he clutched his pounding head with one hand and pushed himself into a sitting position with his other.

"What was that about swords?" The familiar voice asked, finally subdued for once. "Did you get into a fight? Is that why you were in such a horrible state?"

"It was nothing." Lancer snapped as he looked to his 'rescuer' for the first time since his awakening. "Besides, I should be asking why you'd be venturing into a random alley looking for me, Taiga."

The young teacher standing beside Lancer's bed side bristled with the kind of playful anger she normally only reserved for troublesome students. "Oh no you don't!" She fired back. "You don't get to ask any questions, buster! Not after all the trouble Grampa put me through after I asked him to send some men to look for you! If anything I should be the one asking you questions!"

Lancer paused at the woman's sudden outburst, and then grinned. "So you weren't the one who found me, then. You just called the shots while other people did all the work!"

The spearman's small victory was instantly shattered when an expertly thrown pillow smacked him in the face, almost knocking him back down onto his futon. "Quiet, you." Taiga said, still angry. "We found you half dead, trailing enough blood to kill a normal person, and moaning about some fog and chains. If we hadn't found you when we did-."

"Then I would've been perfectly fine." Lancer said. He threw aside the covers of the futon, and stumbled to his feet like a drunk man trying to perform a delicate operation. He managed it after a few seconds of flailing, but almost instantly fell back down as all the strength in his legs vanished. "Okay." He admitted. "Maybe not perfectly fine."

"Idiot." Taiga crossed her arms, leaned against the wooden part of the wall, and shook her head sadly. "You haven't moved for 24 hours. Of course you'll feel sleepy and unenergetic at first. Give it a few minutes. I'll get you some breakfast, so stay put." She slid the paper door open and took one step out, but turned around at the last second. "Oh, and don't think of trying to sneak out anywhere. Grampa's men are surrounding the house and they're under orders to keep you here so you don't go wandering off into the middle of traffic."

Lancer suppressed a shudder as the door slammed closed. "What a scary woman." He admitted to himself. "Just sleepiness, huh? It would be nice if that was true." As a Servant and demigod, his body was almost always in a ready state, even just after waking up. If he had that much trouble moving, that must have meant…

"No prana. Shit." He cursed. Rather than having a hard time walking, he wouldn't even be able to leave the house without help. The flow of prana that Kotomine normally supplied him with was completely gone, and he had wasted all his earlier prana on blowing up the Matou house and healing the wounds from Gilgamesh and Sakura. His aching body showed just close he had gone to not being able to do even that. A single extra wound and he would have exhausted himself and disappeared. But for now he was running on empty, and an empty tank couldn't refill itself so easily.

As he cursed his circumstances Lancer looked around his temporary accommodations. It was an ordinary sized room in a traditional Japanese home, meaning tatami mats for floor and almost paper thin walls. His futon was the only furnishing in the room except for what appeared to be a closet, leaving it almost empty. Lancer himself was now wearing pale blue pajamas instead of his armour, leaving him questioning who exactly had changed his clothes while he slept. For a moment he remembered the unusual dream he had just woken from, but the sound of the door sliding open and the smell of food banished all thoughts of his nightmare from his mind.

"Here." Taigan knelt down next to the bedridden spearman and handed him a tray. "It's not exactly restaurant quality, but it's best to get some food in your stomach." The aforementioned food consisted of some kind of soup, a bowl of rice, and what seemed to be the legendary 'sushi' people in Japan talked about. Although it smelled delicious, the foreign food left Lancer wishing for some steak on the rare side.

"Uh, thanks." Lancer forced himself to say as he took the tray and picked up a spoon. As he tentatively tried the soup the man couldn't relax due to the persistent stare coming from his observer.

"Y'know you don't have to watch me all the time." He said after a minute. "I'm perfectly capable of using chopsticks."

"I'm not watching to make sure you eat." The determined schoolteacher said. "I'm making sure you don't suddenly collapse or do something stupid."

"Oi, I think you're being a bit irrational." Lancer said as he finished the rest of the soup in one gulp and set the bowl aside. "I mean, I'm tougher than that, and if it makes you stop I'll promise not to try and escape today."

"I don't care." Taiga said stubbornly. Her eyes were scrunched up in concentration and she glared at Lancer as if he was a ticking time bomb ready to explode. "I'm not gonna risk it. Especially not after what Shirou told me."

"The kid?" Lancer frowned. "Isn't talking about someone behind their back rude? Spill it."

"Nope." A small, mischievous smile appeared on Taiga's face, the first since Lancer had woken up. Unlike her angry or frustrated expressions it actually suited her. "It's my secret! You have plenty, so now we're even! Now eat up. You can't rest properly if you don't eat!"

"Geeze." Lancer sighed at her response, but eventually relented and continued eating his food. "You're too fussy." He said as he chewed on something with fish in it. "Although that's a good trait for a teacher, it's really distressing right now. I feel like you're babying me."

"Don't be ridiculous." She harrumphed. "I'm just giving you the same level of care as an injured student. This isn't really special at all."

"Oh, it isn't?" Lancer chuckled and lowered the now empty tray. "So you look this worried every time something happens to one of your kids? That's a pretty good quality for a mother to have."

"I-Idiot." She looked away suddenly as if embarrassed. "Don't think you'll be able to use those charms of yours to convince me to free you! You're staying here until you've rested up!"

Lancer just smirked like a hunter who had found his prey. "So you think I'm charming? Well that's mighty bold of you to say, milady. This is the first time in Japan I've ever met someone quite as forward as you."

"Ah!" The woman stiffened at his words, and abruptly stood. She snatched the tray from Lancer's lap and quickly slid open the door. "I'm g-going! If you need anything call for a guard!" She said the words as quickly as possible and slammed the rickety door shut in her attempts to get out as fast as she could.

"Heh. She's still got a lot to learn." Lancer smiled as he observed his so called 'watcher' running away in embarrassment. The man let himself fall back onto the futon and stop pretending to be okay as his body protested even the small movements he had made to eat. His aching stomach groaned as it was suddenly forced to handle solid food even though it was still healing from perforation. "Dammit, there really isn't much I can do like this."

It was actually quite annoying. While most others would've relished the chance to rest after several difficult battles one after the other, to Lancer his forced rest was just an inconvenient obstacle he'd have to find a way to bypass.

The Hound of Culann was **not** going to die a death from prana deprivation.

"Okay, think." The man spoke as he closed his eyes and let his body relax. "There's gotta be something I can do. There's no such thing as an impossible task."

The objective: replenish his lost prana. There were many ways to do such a thing, but in his situation most if not all wouldn't work. Still, he had options.

Begging was definitely an option. Kotomine was still his Master, and thus controlled the flow of prana to his Servant. Perhaps if he begged or agreed to something his Master would seek fit to forgive his dog and let the blue warrior live.

Lancer threw away the idea as soon as he thought of it. Even death would be a better option than surrendering to his true Master's killer.

He could always gather prana from his surroundings. There had to be a few ley lines in Fuyuki, and a day at one of them would be more than enough to recharge the rogue Servant to functioning levels of prana, if not top him up fully. Of course, such a thing was currently impossible. Lancer detected almost no ambient prana in his surroundings, making that option unattainable unless Taiga suddenly revealed a sudden knowledge of magecraft.

A third idea came almost of its own will into Lancer's mind. It was something he hadn't even considered, but as he thought of it, the prospect became even more and more enticing.

He could feed on their souls.

The compound he was currently holed up in was being guarded by more than a dozen men, each one with an above average strength for humans of the modern age. Although he was almost gone, Lancer was sure he could easily kill them all and use their souls to restore his prana. As a Servant such a thing was definitely possible. In fact, it wouldn't be difficult, and he'd already killed plenty of things during his life, so such a thing wouldn't even faze him. Yes, the more he thought about it, the nicer the idea sounded…

Until the face of the woman who had summoned him flickered through Lancer's mind.

What about Bazett? Hadn't he made a promise to bring her back?

But that had nothing to do with anything. This was different.

How? How could it be different? Would he really allow himself to die, knowing that he could have done something? He needed the prana to live. He needed to live to win, and he needed to win to fulfill his promise to his true Master.

But… to who had he made that promise? Was it to her… or to himself?

Regardless, it was irrelevant. He had no choice. Now that his alliance was over, he had to be back in fighting condition as soon as possible. If Saber or Gilgamesh showed up, he'd be screwed.

But still, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Teetering on the edge, Lancer clutched his head as two different parts of him drew him towards two different promises. His mild headache worsened until lit felt as if his head would split him half. What did he do? Where did he go? What about… his wish?

And then he realized it. And Lancer rejoiced, for his wish had already been granted-!

_Get… the fuck… out of my head!_

Lancer's hand moved as he gathered the trace amounts of prana within the air. His index finger almost dug into his shoulder as he all but carved a short combination of runes into his skin. The mystical shapes glowed brightly for a moment and then faded away as they got to work at their task: protecting Lancer's mind and body from Kotomine Kirei's influence.

"That fucker… no more spying through my eyes and ears." Lancer growled as he clutched his head. "No more planting creepy thoughts in my head while I don't notice. And no more of those fucking nightmares!" His crimson eyes blazed with fury as his headache abated along with Kotomine's slimy thoughts.

"How long…" His headache was abating, but the small expenditure of prana had been almost too much. "How long was that shit going on for?" Lancer asked himself. "How long has that damned priest been planting thoughts in my head?"

This time, no one answered his thought. Kotomine, along with his only possible source of prana, was gone from Lancer's mind and body for good.

If anyone asked: It was worth it.

After almost collapsing again from the strain of the sudden purge, Lancer reluctantly lay back down on the thin futon. While he would have much preferred to be up and about, he couldn't deny that the lack of prana within his body was making him very, very sleepy once more.

"Just a few minutes…" The weary warrior promised himself as he closed his eyes and drifted off into a thankfully dreamless sleep. "Just until I can walk again…"

"Lancer." A sharp jab to his solar plexus caused Lancer to frown in his sleep. "C'mon, wake up already. I'm not letting you hibernate for another day!" Another sharp jab, and the spearman growled weakly and pawed at the hand poking him like a weak puppy, still stubbornly refusing to open his eyes.

"Sensei, maybe it isn't such a good idea to antagonize him like that." Shirou stood next to the entrance of the room, sweating bullets as he watched his teacher casually needle a man who had killed him once, and would do so again given a reason to. "He's still very tired. Maybe I should just come back another time."

"Nope." Taiga gave the sleeping man another poke that somehow failed to wake him, and held back a grin. Uncharacteristically of her, she seemed to be gaining some enjoyment from watching the sleeping man squirm, which was enough to render Shirou too nervous to attempt to intervene physically. If the Tiger had designated her prey, then interfering would only make things worse. "This guy's just thick-headed. If he's anything like my grampa, he's just a deep sleeper. Sometimes you need an extra push to wake him up!"

The grossly irresponsible teacher punctuated her sentence by clamping down on the sleeping man's nostrils with two fingers, suddenly preventing him from breathing through his nose. Lancer shuddered, and instantly jumped upward, his eyes flying open as he landed nimbly on both legs with one hand placed on the ground to keep his balance and his other stretched out behind him to call Gae Bolg.

Of course, he lacked even the prana to summon his weapon, something he was grateful for when he realized that he had almost revealed it to an ordinary human.

"What the hell?" Once he realized that no, he wasn't under attack, the spearman sighed and sat down, propping his hands on one raised knee. "Seriously, for a host you're not doing a very good job of letting your guest have some sleep." Lancer yawned. "How long have I been out?"

"Only a few hours this time." Taiga said. "I woke you up just in time for dinner! You should be thanking me. I got Shirou to come all the way over here just to cook it for us! Even Tohsaka Rin decided to show up." Her earlier sour mood had been completely eradicated by the promise of a delicious meal, leaving the childish woman smiling like she had just won a lottery.

"That's what you wake me for?" Lancer said as he rubbed his bleary eyes. "Just leave me alone. I'm tired, and I don't really care about that kid's cooking."

"My house, my rules." Taiga smirked. "And my rules say that missing dinner is a travesty that cannot be tolerated! C'mon, get up."

Just as Lancer was about to reply with something much snarkier than his usual comments, the redheaded boy who had gone entirely unnoticed during the conversation decided to interrupt.

"Sensei, the food's almost done." He said slowly. Lancer looked at the boy with unfiltered surprise on his face, but Shirou ignored the spearman and addressed his teacher directly. "How about you help Tohsaka with the finishing touches? She was just complaining that she needed a helping hand, and I'd like to talk to Lancer for a few minutes." Shirou's words carried no traces of the grief he had so openly displayed earlier.

Taiga paused, and sighed. "Oh fine. I'll leave you two to have your man talk. But don't think you can skip out on dinner, Shirou! You're eating too!" With those parting words the woman once more opened the door and shot out of the room faster than a hungry, hungry hippo, leaving the Servant and the Servantless Master to speak with each other in peace. As she left the room, so did the relaxed atmosphere that she had brought with her.

For almost a minute there was complete silence. Shirou leaned against the wall, looking anywhere but at the other occupant of the room, and Lancer was more interested in examining his fingernails than talking to his younger companion. Their last separation hadn't been pretty, and Lancer wasn't sure if he could even consider the high school student to be neutral anymore, let alone an ally.

At the one minute mark, Shirou broke the silence.

"Is the room warded?" He asked, quietly enough so that only inhuman hearing would be able to pick up his whisper.

Lancer idly sketched a few glowing runes on the floor under his futon and replied. "Is now." He said at a normal volume. "What do you want, kid?" He glanced at Shirou, who still refused to even look at the spearman, let alone make eye contact. "Thinking of killing me now that I'm at my weakest?"

"No." Shirou said, still perfectly serious. "I just want to talk for a few minutes. If you want me to go, then that's fine too. I know that alliance of ours is over, but I still bear you no ill will."

"Ah just sit down already." Lancer grumbled. "Talking with you beats trying to sleep. I got a feeling that every time that teacher of yours sees me with my eyes closed she's gonna try and punch another hole through my stomach anyway."

Shirou didn't relax, but he did allow himself to sit on the floor, his back flat against the wall. "It's been more than a day." The boy said as he failed to resist the urge to glance at the disheveled spearman before him. "And nothing's happened so far. We haven't seen Gilgamesh at all, and Sakura…"

"Won't wake up." Lancer said bitterly. "I should've guessed."

"You know?" Shirou asked, finally surprised enough to break the poker face he had been working hard at keeping up. "But how? You've been asleep!"

"I don't need to know. She was gone the second I used Gae Bolg, kid. Even if whatever it is that possessed her healed most of her body, Gae Bolg's thorns spread everywhere, including the brain." Lancer shook his head sadly. "Sorry to say this, but my spear's anti-regeneration properties were enough to stop that _thing's_ healing. So even if she's alive again, the damage to her mind and body remains."

Shirou opened his mouth to ask about how Lancer could know such things, but stopped halfway through. Of course Lancer would know. Any hero worth his salt would know exactly how their Noble Phantasm operated. Instead of an instant outburst, the young adult sat still and waited a few seconds to reply. "In that case…" He asked slowly. "I'll cut right to the chase. I'm asking you if there's a way to heal her."

"Of course there is, kid." Lancer snorted. "You came all the way here just to ask me that? Don't be dumb. There's always a way. If you're creative enough and willing to go far enough, you can even bring back the dead. What you should be asking me is if there's a way to heal that girl that you're capable of using."

"But do you know something?" Shirou pressed on. "Anything that we can get in short notice, before her muscles and organs fail completely?"

"That… is a little trickier." Lancer admitted, frowning. "I'm sure that there are plenty of things out there that can reverse the damage, but actually getting those things and even knowing where or what they are is something beyond my power. Basically, you'd be diving into the ocean to search for a trinket you dropped years ago and barely even remember. It's there, but the chances of finding it are pretty much zero, and you probably won't recognize it when you see it."

Shirou seemed to deflate with the spearman's words, but the boy merely nodded instead of breaking down. "Of course." He closed his eyes. "That's what I expected. So it's impossible after all."

The boy turned to leave, but Lancer's next words stopped him in his tracks.

"It's possible. There's a clear cut way to fix this without a problem." The spearman said, completely serious. "In fact I'm surprised you didn't think of it earlier, considering you're willing to fight a freaking war for the thing."

Shirou turned, and instead of the expression of realization Lancer expected the boy seemed merely confused instead. "I don't understand." He admitted. "What's this obvious way you're talking about? I've been thinking all day but I still haven't come up with anything."

Lancer sighed. "The Grail, idiot." The spearman said. "Y'know, the reason you're in this war? That magical wish granting object that's only awarded to the winner of the Holy Grail War? Is that ringing any bells in that head of yours?"

Shirou froze. Then he shuddered. And finally, averted his eyes from Lancer's form, clenching his fists as his body shuddered.

"No." The boy said. "That's not an option."

"Eh?" From all the options Lancer had expected, a straight up refusal of a miracle that could bring back the boy's loved one wasn't something he had even considered possible. "Are you serious?" The spearman asked again. "C'mon, what's the deal? Is your other wish so important that you don't wanna bring back your girl?"

"No, it's not that." Shirou said. His words were curt and to the point. Whatever Lancer had said, it had affected the boy, but in no way the hero could observe. "I won't use it. Even if I win, I'm not using the Grail for such a thing."

"Are you some kind of idiot?" Now Lancer's voice rose slightly as well. "Are you saying that you have no wish that you want granted? That you have no use for an omnipotent wish granting artifact? That you're not even going to do anything with it?"

"Yes." Shirou replied firmly. "I'm not going to use it. That's what I've decided."

"But-!"

"I'm not being rash." Shirou continued, his eyes gazing past an empty wall and towards his home, where the girl he loved lay sleeping. "The idea of using the Grail isn't something that I only now acknowledged. I knew from the moment I got back that I could use it. I knew it would be able to grant my wish, and that I could do what I could not by letting it save her." The boy closed his eyes, shutting out the world around him.

"But that's wrong." Shirou spoke with an air of finality and confidence. "Asking the Grail for a wish that selfish is something I can't do. I just… can't."

"It's not selfish." Lancer said weakly. The spearman pushed himself to his feet and staggered over to redhead. "That Grail isn't what you're fighting for, kid. It's not a 'wish machine', but a 'miracle maker'. You're not seeking something to grant you a wish. What you're striving for is the miracle you've wished for! Are you really saying that you have no wishes of your own? That even saving one life is something you can't accept?"

"Yes." Shirou said. "I can't accept it. Because when I thought of everything I could do with that grail, I realized that there's no way I could ever use it on just one person. What about all the other people who've died in this world without a single chance to live? What about the 500 people who died at the end of the last Grail war? There's too much injustice in the world for one miracle to solve, and because of that, I don't need one. You said it yourself. There are other ways to save her, so I'll look for those ways. That 'miracle' you talked about… I don't need it. That's the choice I made."

"…" Lancer normally wouldn't consider himself to be a talkative person. Hell, he didn't even think the naïve kid he'd almost killed once was that much of a talker. So to say he was shocked when Emiya Shirou suddenly decided to take 'wordy' to a whole new level was a complete understatement. However, that in no way meant the experienced hero had been rendered speechless. No, his lack of response was merely a conscious decision to wait until he could actually come up with a credibly reply to what must have been the most idiotic decision ever.

"Anyway, that's all I wanted to say." Shirou finished. "I'm going to eat. Here's a change of clothes. See you at the table. Oh, and don't mention Sakura to Sensei. She thinks Sakura's just sick, and we can't break the news to her so soon."

With that, the young redhead walked out of the room, leaving Cu Chulainn, the man who had defeated monstrous beasts and powerful warriors alike wondering what the hell had just happened.

In the end, he decided to go with the simple wording and chastise himself for it later.

"Well, fuck."

Dinner was a sombre affair. When Lancer finally gathered up the strength to hobble over to where he guessed the dining room was, he found an uncharacteristic silence in the unfamiliar home. Although the food was delicious (and western, thankfully), everyone was too caught up in their own thoughts to enjoy it. Lancer didn't speak, instead focusing on getting as much delicious food as possible into his stomach, and Taiga seemed to share his sentiments. Shirou barely ate a thing, and Rin spent the entire dinner alternating between glaring at Lancer and glaring even more at Shirou.

When it ended, the young magus girl quickly and quietly slipped out of the room with only a muttered goodbye to Shirou. The redhead nodded and rose from his seat.

"I'll help clean up-." He began.

"No, go ahead, Shirou. I'll do it." Surprisingly it was the normally upbeat teacher who interrupted the boy. "I know there's some more stuff you want to say. Go on and finish your conversation with Lancer before leaving."

The redhead opened his mouth to protest weakly, but Lancer grabbed the boy by the shoulder and pulled him out into the hall, slamming the door shut behind them. The spearman took a quick look around to make sure there weren't any guards eavesdropping before turning his eyes back to Shirou.

"Alright, kid. I'll make this quick." The spearman whispered. Taiga couldn't hear his words amongst the clattering of dishes, but Shirou made them out easily enough. "While I respect your decision and all that, don't dismiss the Grail as an opportunity. I'm not forcing you or anything, but you shouldn't be so quick to decide such things. It's best not to make rash decisions."

Shirou smiled weakly. "What's that, Lancer? You, telling me to stay calm and think more? If it had been a few days ago you would've just told me to do whatever the hell I wanted."

"Ah shut up." Lancer continued. "Anyway, I've said my piece. Once you get back, tell Saber that I'll be ready for our rematch in… about two days. I'll contact you guys when I'm ready. Until then, don't get yourself killed. Just stay at home and recover your strength."

"I can't promise that." Shirou replied wearily.

"What?"

"Ilya's gone, too." The amateur magus said. "When we came back the house had been ransacked and she was missing. I have no idea what happened to her or why she's gone. Maybe she woke up and decided to leave, but that doesn't explain her wrecking my house on the way out."

"That little girl…" Lancer frowned. He'd only seen Ilyasveil von Einzbern a few times, and most of those were simply her sleeping in Shirou's hands. They had no idea what kind of abilities or priorities she had, and if she'd even woken up. "Have you tried looking for her?"

"Yes, but we've gotten nowhere." Shirou replied morosely. "Saber and I searched through Shinto last night, but found no traces of her. We're going to check the downtown area tonight."

"Things just keep getting better and better. That's some spectacular luck you have there." Lancer let go of Shirou and leaned against a wooden wall as the meager expenditure of energy caught up with him. "First Goldie, then those two girls of yours, it's like the universe wants us as miserable as possible."

"Perhaps." Shirou said. "But I'm not giving it the satisfaction of watching me give up. A hero's someone who triumphs over adversity. It's not over yet, not by a long shot." Rather than the weak acceptance of defeat, all Lancer could see in Shirou's eyes was a deep sense of purpose. A refusal to let the World crush the boy's idealistic hopes and dreams.

"Now you're talking like a real hero." Lancer chuckled weakly, unable to come up with a better reply.

Shirou nodded, and turned to leave. Lancer accompanied the magus to the door in silence as he focused on putting one foot in front of the other without looking like an idiot. Wisely, the guards had decided to let the guard dissipate for a short time, and when they arrived at the entrance, or in Shirou's case, exit, they found it completely unguarded.

"Hm. I could probably escape right now." Lancer mused as he inhaled a breath of fresh evening air. "I'm probably not gonna get another chance."

"You could." Shirou agreed. "Sensei doesn't know anything about the Grail War or magecraft, so you might be better off on your own. But she seems to have taken a liking to you, so this place is open to you if you wish it."

"I have that effect on people." Lancer grinned. "I guess you could say people admire my sharp wit and to-the-point attitude."

"Or perhaps they admire the lack of a spear through their hearts." Shirou quipped, rubbing the scar from being stabbed by Gae Bolg. Unsurprisingly, Sakura now possessed a similar one.

"Bah. Don't let a bad first impression get you down." Lancer replied lazily. "I mean, I haven't tried to kill you since then, right? I'd call that an improvement on your part."

"Or yours." Shirou gazed at the cloudy sky. For a moment it seemed as if the moon would emerge, but the brief pinprick of pale light was quickly swallowed up by grey clouds. "You're different, y'know. Compared to how you acted when we first met, you're like an entirely different person."

"Really?" Lancer raised an eyebrow. "I like to think that I just got a bit more serious, that's all."

"That does make sense, to a point." Shirou said. "But it's not just that. Back then, when you and I fought, it was like a game to you. You were just having fun toying with me."

"Hey, c'mon, cut me some slack here." Lancer shuffled, almost sounding embarrassed by his previous actions. "So what if I like to play with prey that's got some claws? It's not like I was breaking the rules or anything, just enjoying a good fight."

"Yeah, but your attitude's completely different now." Shirou turned to face Lancer, and the spearman couldn't resist looking at the teen's clear, guileless eyes. "Earlier it was like you didn't care about anything. You were just having fun fighting and playing a nice little game of war. But now…"

_That's the problem with getting involved with your enemies. _Lancer thought bitterly. _You start connecting with them. Bonding. Talking to each other. And that only makes it harder when the inevitable comes._ "It wasn't a matter of choice, kid. I'm sure that girl explained it to you. It's all because of that one promise, that's it. Believe me, I'd rather have just run around by myself, killing off Servants one by one like in the original plan."

"Perhaps." Shirou nodded. "But you made that promise anyway didn't you? Ever since you fought Rider, you've been like a different person. Even when I saw you fighting, you were different from the person who tried to kill me that night. You were more… _there_. More human."

'

"Don't be ridiculous." Lancer said weakly. Talking was never his strong point in the first place, and he definitely didn't want to be spilling those inconvenient feelings all over some kid he'd killed once. "I'm the same guy I always was. You don't know me, so don't make a big deal just because I decided to be nice for once! Now shut up and go look for that princess of yours!"

Shirou opened his mouth to protest, but before he could get a word out Lancer slammed the door shut. The 'hero' hobbled away from the locked door as fast as he could, blocking out the muffled words of a stupid boy who was too perceptive for his own good.

"Dammit." He cursed as he silently made his way back into the kitchen for some leftovers.

"Dammit."

The table was clean. Not a speck of food remained. Somehow, despite her supposed ineptitude, Taiga had managed to get it all sorted out in the span of a minute long conversation.

"Dammit."

The spearman cursed. He hobbled over to the kitchen entrance. Perhaps there would be something there. It wasn't like he needed food as a Servant, but it did give him energy, as little as that was. So if a few more bites could nab him some more units of prana in the long run, Lancer would take them.

Some more units of prana… as he entered the kitchen, Lancer acknowledged the existence of one other way to replenish his reserves. It would be cruel in many ways, but compared to the alternatives, he'd take it.

If he could even pull it off.

The kitchen, unlike the dining room, was a complete mess. There were pots and pans everywhere, and the dishes were still mostly unwashed. The remaining food had been neatly sealed into plastic containers for later consumption, but the rest of the area had yet to be cleaned.

The soft gurgling of water and the sound of a sponge rubbing against ceramic made it obvious just what Taiga was doing. Despite Lancer's image of her as a slightly clumsy yet talented swordswoman, she somehow managed to flawlessly integrate the image of a busy housewife into that appraisal.

Taiga hummed softly as she scrubbed the dishes, rhythmically cleaning one, then putting it to dry and reaching for another. Unlike her normal, energetic self, she seemed almost peaceful, having fallen into a trance that turned her dull, repetitive work into something bearable. Lancer felt himself get sucked into her rhythm just by watching, hypnotized by the mundane act. One after another, the mess created from 4 people eating dinner shrunk and vanished under Taiga's steady hand, and in the course of a few minutes all the dishes and utensils had been cleaned and set to dry.

Taiga turned to grab a towel with which to dry off her hands, and promptly fumbled it when she noticed the blue clad man leaning against the counter and munching on some rice balls.

"L-Lancer!?" She panicked. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Grabbing a midnight snack." The spearman said, smirking. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Don't be funny with me, mister." She frowned. "I'm cleaning up the dishes. Unlike what you're doing, it's actually something that contributes to the quality of this household!"

"Hey, I'm the guest. I don't have to contribute anything except my presence at your dinner table. "Lancer countered easily. "Besides, your idea of contributing must mean 'break half a dozen dishes before getting any clean', judging by all those shards you tossed into the trash earlier."

"Ah!" The woman froze as the hero revealed her underhanded plans. "W-well, accidents happen." She said quickly. "I mean, everyone breaks a few plates on occasion, right? Even professional cooks do that sometimes!"

"Oh sure." Lancer agreed. "Except the kid doesn't, right?"

"Shirou isn't normal!" Taiga crossed her arms and turned her nose up. "That child is destined to become one of the greatest Japanese cooks in the world. You can't judge him by mortal standards, so he doesn't count."

"So little miss sunshine was normal, then?" Lancer's teasing continued, to little effect.

"Tohsaka is an honour student." Taiga insisted. "They take perfection to a whole new level. It isn't fair to count people like them as normal human beings."

"So in your opinion, anyone who's better than you in the kitchen isn't human?" Lancer chuckled. "My, my, does that make you the best chef in the world?"

"I do what I can." Taiga smirked, crossing her arms. She waved the towel in her hands around as if conducting an orchestra. "The ability to cook is an essential thing for any adult to have. To not be able to do such a thing is a tragedy!"

"Oh I'm crying already." Lancer said. "The idea that you needed help from one of your own students just to make dinner definitely makes this sad tale a tragedy of the most epic scale."

"Y-Youuuuuuuuu." The normally relaxed teacher fumed, and although she didn't actually attack Lancer, the sheer amount of momentary killing intent told Lancer that if looks could kill, he'd sooner survive being stabbed by the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. Luckily for him, however, the teacher decided to take her anger out on the poor towel, wringing it so tightly that it groaned in protest. "Just be lucky that you're not feeling your best." Taiga finally said. "I can tolerate that from Shirou, but you're going to be punished! Five rounds in the dojo with me after you get better. And no holding back this time!"

"Yeah, yeah." Lancer waved off her death threats as if he'd experienced similar on a regular basis. "Sure, it's a promise. Now is there a TV in this blasted house? They're airing White Fang tonight, and I don't want to miss it."

"Nope!" Taiga laid down the law like an angry mother. "No TV! Bed time! Now!"

"Oh c'mon." Lancer protested. "I've been in bed all day! A man can't sleep all the time!"

"Well then you'll be the first to accomplish such a heroic deed." Taiga insisted. "Now get to bed before I drag you there! And don't think I won't, mister!"

"Geeze, you're acting like my mother." Lancer complained, but still complied as the determined teacher grabbed his hand and half dragged him to the room he'd woken up in. It was embarrassing to be pushed around by an ordinary human, doubly so a woman he enjoyed teasing.

"You're still feeling the effects of your injuries." Taigas said as she slid open the door to Lancer's room. "And you really do need to rest. Shirou said you were hurt pretty bad, and I believe him."

"I'm fine though." Lancer muttered weakly under his breath. Truthfully, while he didn't wish to sleep again, his body had different ideas. The aching hadn't stopped, and while he could walk, if slowly, his prana remained at a dangerously low level. Despite everything, sleep was the best thing he could do.

"I don't buy it." Taiga said as she pulled out a new futon and laid it out on the floor. "You may not believe it, but I've been in a few scrapes myself. I'm not going to ask what happened to you, but a human can't just heal in a day. You'll need at least a week of rest before you can get up."

"What if I want a hospital?" Lancer teased. "You are technically keeping me against my will, y'know."

But this time Taiga was ready. "Doesn't matter." She grinned. "Grampa pretty much owns this part of town. No one's gonna come looking for you, every person in this house works for me, and best of all, if you go missing, no one will hear you scream!"

Coming from anyone else her words may have been scary, but Lancer just shrugged. "Meh." He grumbled. "Worth a shot. Anyway, I've got a proposition for you. Last shot, and if you don't take it I'll go right to sleep, promise."

Taiga paused, and tilted her head to the side. "I'm listening…" She said slowly.

"Y'know, I recall us promising a certain friend of yours that we'd finish that special bottle of liquor she got us." Lancer said as he drew a sturdy brown bottle from behind his back. "How about we get that out of the way before bed?"

"Y-you!" Taiga growled. "You have some nerve! Do you honestly think I'd let you drink before sleeping? And where the heck did you get that?"

"Filched it from the kitchen while you weren't looking." Lancer said as he twisted the bottle of alcohol open. "Wow. This smells like some good stuff." He sniffed the opening and smiled. "C'mon, share a drink with me." He sat down on the floor cross-legged, and poured a small quantity of drink into the bottle's cap.

"I already said no, mister!" Taiga insisted, but she found herself sitting down in front of Lancer anyway. "Geeze, first you ditch me with the groceries to run off somewhere, and now you want to continue as if nothing happened a day later?"

"Yeah, sorry about that." Lancer said. "Would you believe me if I said something urgent came up?" He handed Taiga the cap and took the bottle for himself.

"Coming from anyone else, I'd say hell no, but, for better or for worse, I believe you." Taiga didn't seem very happy with that revelation, but took the cap anyway. The two containers met briefly before both of the 'responsible adults' drank down the contents.

"Ah… that hits the spot." Lancer sighed as he gulped down the alcohol. Neko hadn't been lying. While not exactly the best he'd ever had, it was certainly much better than the mysterious bottles of wine Kirei and Gilgamesh had procured. Taiga seemed to share his sentiments, as her weak protests vanished as soon as she tasted the masterfully created brew.

The two drank some more in silence before Taiga spoke again. Unlike Lancer she didn't seem very content at all. "I don't get it." She frowned. "First you disappear suddenly, then you wind up bleeding in an alley barely an hour or two later, and now you're acting as if it was nothing." Her words weren't slurred at all despite the volume of drink she had consumed.

"It's… not something I can really talk about." Lancer said, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going.

"But it's important." Taiga said after a few more drinks. She glared weakly at Lancer. "All this strange stuff has been happening for more than a week already, and then you and Saber show up around that time…" She took a drink and continued as soon as she swallowed. "…and Shirou's sad, and there was a fire at the temple, and now Sakura's sick…" Taiga trailed off.

"Don't worry about it." Lancer poured her some more liquor, which the teacher mechanically swallowed without batting an eyelash. "Like I said, I can't tell you anything." He began, but paused and sighed as he saw Taiga glaring at him. "Oh, fine." He relented.

"Listen, you're absolutely right." He said. "Something's going on in this town. And yeah, Saber and I are involved in it. So was that Kiri-whats-his-name you talked about earlier."

"I knew it." Taiga said to herself. "I knew it…"

"But it's almost over now." Lancer continued. "It won't be longer than two weeks, and I can tell you that everything will be back to normal as soon as it's over. Saber and I will leave, and chances are you'll never see us again."

"You're leaving?" It seemed that the teacher only caught the last part of Lancer's sentence. "W-when?" She stammered.

"Don't know. Probably a few days at most. No more than a week." Lancer admitted. "So don't worry, you won't have to put up with me for much longer. And I'll be gone tomorrow anyway. I don't want to impose on your delightful hospitality any longer." He took a long drink from the bottle, which was almost empty at that point.

"You're leaving…" Taiga seemed lost in thought, and unusually silent. Lancer didn't pay it any mind.

"Yup. Lovely place, Japan, but I'll need to be going back soon." Lancer stood up and propped the mostly empty bottle against the wall after closing it again. Taiga rose from her spot and frowned as she stared at him. "Relax." He chuckled. "There's still time, so I'll be able to pay you back for the help."

"…you'd better." Was all that Taiga said before shoving some pajamas into Lancer's hands.

The spearman nodded. "Mind turning around for a sec, Miss kidnapper?" He said.

"Of course. Now relax!" Taiga said, her energy mysteriously back as she spun 180 degrees to give Lancer room to change into his nightwear. "There's no need to leave tomorrow. I've decided that you'll be staying here for the remainder of your visit! Don't worry, we'll be good hosts. I promise you three meals a day, television, and a generous curfew of 11:00! This is an exclusive offer, so I'd suggest being grateful for it!" Her words were slightly louder than normal, possibly so that she could tune out the sound of cloth rustling as Lancer changed right behind her, or possibly because she had had just a bit too much to drink.

"Oh, thanks, really." Lancer quipped. Unlike the teacher, his divine constitution had already processed most of the alcohol. "Anyway, you can turn around now." He said.

"Finally." Taiga spun in place energetically. "Anyway, tomorrow I was thinking you might be well enough to- huh?" She froze in place, her eyes wide open and staring at Lancer as if he was made of solid gold.

"What?" The man shrugged, the action loosening the pajamas wrapped around his waist. Although he had claimed to be done, his torso had been left completely bare, revealing a muscular yet lean physique, marred with almost no scars at all, and certainly no recent ones. In fact, the shirtless demigod looked like the peak of fitness.

"Ah… buh…" Taiga's mouth opened and closed without forming words. "But… you were bleeding yesterday." She managed to say.

"Like I told you." Lancer smirked. "I'm just that good. Now are you going to stare, or help me out? Either way, my eyes are up here."

"Eh?" Taiga blinked and looked up from examining Lancer's chiseled abs. "Y-you're not human." She managed to say.

"Nah, I'm plenty human." The bare-chested man said. "I'm just foreign, that's all. Now really, I do need your help. I can't put the top half of this dress thingy on."

"O-of course." Taiga tried to resist the urge to slap Lancer and call him a pervert. In the end her rationality won, but only because he was still supposedly injured. She tentatively took a few steps towards Lancer, who just stood in place and smirked as if it was his birthday.

"How can you not know not to put on pajamas?" The teacher forced herself to talk as she grabbed the edges of Lancer's nightwear. "It's pretty simple."

"I prefer to sleep in the nude." Lancer all but purred, and Taiga shuddered as her imagination went places it hadn't been in a long time. "And your Japanese clothing confuses me." He added as an afterthought.

"You're the confusing one." Taiga muttered as her hands lifted up the top part of her guest's clothes. She couldn't resist looking at his chest once more. Where the night before he had been wounded in several places, he looked like the peak of health only a day later. Gone was the blood, gone were the wounds, and gone was the pallor of death that had haunted the man's body.

"I don't think so." Lancer purred as Taiga began to tie the two halves the obi together. His words caused her to fumble, and the entire array of cloth dropped to Lancer's waist once more. "You are a very confusing woman, Ms Fujimura." He continued, seemingly oblivious to Taiga's barely suppressed trembling.

"Rescuing me, then attacking me, forcing me to sleep and then waking me up and unable to tie up a simple garment when you so easily claimed it was a simple matter… Aren't you contradicting yourself?" He smirked.

"…screw it." Taiga growled. She let go of the man's shirt and spun in place. "Put it on yourself, then! I don't care anymore." She stomped angrily towards the door, but Lancer's hand on hers stopped her from sliding it open.

"What are you-!?" She held back a squeak as her guest's long arms closed around her body, pulling her back into him. She was acutely aware of the warmth of his bare chest on her back, and his definitely not weak arms wrapped around her shoulders.

"Sorry." She couldn't see his face, so it was a surprise when Lancer's soft whisper was breathed into her ear. "That was mean." He continued.

"Th-that doesn't matter now, dummy!" The woman in Lancer's arms said weakly. "L-let me go. You're taking your teasing too far…"

"My arms have no strength." The man admitted. And it was true. He was incredibly weak. Even though he looked like a perfect being, his arms were as strong as wet tissue paper. "Leave, if you wish, but I owe you something, woman. And I assure you, I'm completely serious."

"O-owe me?" It was all she could do to keep speaking without burning out her brain, so Taiga settled for voicing the first thing she could think of as she desperately tried to calm the chaotic state of her upturned mind.

"Yes." Lancer released the startled woman and gently spun her around so that she could face him. "And I always repay my debts. So…"

His eyes were a bright red. The same red that had hunted and killed hundreds. The same red that took joy in battle. The same vicious red that signified death.

The soft, comfortable crimson of a lover.

"Thank you." He said, and pressed his lips to hers.


	26. Chapter 24

Author's Note: Okay, so you may be wondering why there's a jarring skip here compared to what happened at the end of Chapter 23. Suffice to say, what you think happened, happened. Prana ritual ensued, and there was much doing of the do. Of course, I'm not posting 23.5 since it's horrible and probably against the rules, so you can leave it to your imagination. If you browse Beast's Lair you might be able to find it, but I'd recommend against reading the lemon I wrote, since it's frankly quite bad. Anyway, on to Chapter 24.

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><p>Chapter 24: Unveiling<p>

The once smooth stone steps were riddled with scars.

Lancer knelt at the base of the large staircase and ran his hand over several holes in the ground. The jagged scars were unseemly next to the worn steps, and it was plain to see how recent they really were. Something had carved through the rock without pause, managing to gouge holes in the earth as easily as one would cut a cake.

Another person would think it the result of a construction accident or some pranks, but Lancer recognized them as marks left by Assassin's thrown blades. Assassin was gone, leaving these holes in the stone as the last remnants of his short existence.

Lancer moved on, the borrowed prana that made up his body giving him strength to continue walking.

Midway up the staircase, he came upon an area with even more scars marring the face of the mountain. This time something had made long gashes in the rock. Rather than a dagger, these had been caused by a slashing blade, and a familiar one at that.

Gae Bolg had been responsible for those, he knew. The lance in his hand thrummed with a barely restrained malevolence, as if wishing to carve up people instead of rock. Even with numerous chips and cracks painting its surface, the weapon looked as glorious as ever, and it could slice through rock for a century without dulling.

Lancer looked for gashes in the rock that looked like they might've come from a Japanese blade, but found none. Not that he expected to. The False Assassin had been much too skilled to damage his sword by hitting anything other than the enemy. Nothing remained as proof of the wraith's existence.

After the slight pause, Lancer continued upstairs. The feeling of the Ryudou bounded field on his body was uncomfortable, but without Caster's reinforcement, it was merely an itch he couldn't scratch. Yes, Caster was gone as well, although judging from the hole in the side of the mountain, she hadn't gone quietly.

Lancer reached the top of the stairs.

The gate was gone, lying in pieces around the entrance, with burn marks decorating what little remained. Archer had stood here at one point. The last time Lancer had seen the annoying man was a glimpse of him trying to block Caster's magical barrage during the battle. They'd never gotten the chance to finish their fight, but nonetheless the man had left his mark before disappearing.

Lancer half expected to see Berserker's body lying amidst the ruins of the temple, but no Servant could remain in the world without a Master, let alone a dead one. The only unexpected thing was the lack of repairs to the wounds left by Servant battles.

"Tch. So he's been lazing about, then." Kotomine should've fixed the mess, but had apparently settled for drawing a few yellow 'DO NOT ENTER' signs around the entrance and leaving the destruction as it was. Had he cared in the slightest, Lancer would've been slightly angered by the priest's shirking of his duties, but the spearman had something more important to do.

He stepped into the middle of the temple ruins, clearing out a small area where he could stay. Lancer let Gae Bolg disappear, and sat down on the wounded earth, crossing his legs and trying to relax. He drew a handful of runes in a circle around the perimeter of the clearing, and put what prana he could spare into them.

And then he closed his eyes and let his body sleep.

_Drawing prana from a ley line was a very liberating experience. _

_Lancer felt the ground beneath his body suddenly turn from rock to a bright blue river, sparkling with energy and life. He immersed himself in it, letting it heal his wounded body and mend his tattered spirit. The very stuff of life washed over him, and he let himself be swept away by its powerful tug._

_The pure prana swelling up from within the bowels of the earth tasted like spring water, refreshing and invigorating the dulled senses of a being that could not survive on its own. The closed Master-Servant connection had been replaced by a rushing torrent that fed Lancer with as much prana as he would ever need, more than any single human could manage. The tiny amount of prana he'd received from his… donor was instantly eclipsed, like an ocean washing away a pond._

_In moments his body was topped up and as strong as ever, but he didn't leave the meditative trance yet._

_It was peaceful here. For a moment, he could pretend he was back home, lying on the grass and staring at the sun, surrounded by the bodies of his enemies and hearing the distant sounds of young soldiers partying, celebrating their continued life. He could almost hear his friends laughing at some foolish boy's attempt to look powerful, or joking about which princess they were planning on 'rescuing' next._

_Truthfully, remembering those days was getting a bit boring._

_Lancer opened his eyes, and saw._

_There, in the midst of the bright blue stream, was a shape. A shape his sharp eyes couldn't make out, like the tunnel at the end of the light. He moved towards it, trying to see what it was that had plumbed the depths of Ryudou temple's ley line._

_It was human. The shape turned, and looked at him with dark eyes, chuckling weakly as the prana caressed its limbs like a mother feeding a child. The shape laughed the laugh of a man who had never been allowed to smile, and for a moment Lancer had the sudden urge to rip this complete stranger apart._

"_It's not enough." The person said. "Just this much won't be enough. I need two more. One, in a pinch." The stranger chuckled again. "Will it be you, Hound? Will you be my next meal?"_

_The ley line trembled. The flow of prana seemed to halt for an endless moment as the unknown spoke once more, its words carrying with them an air of finality so powerful that their truth could not be denied._

"_Either way, you should enjoy your last few hours of life, because the Grail War ends tonight."_

Lancer opened his eyes and gasped, his chest heaving and stomach clenching, fighting to keep the food he'd eaten inside his body. The rich taste of pure prana was gone, replaced by a nauseating stink that smelt of smoke and rotting corpses.

He trembled as he rose, his body in perfect condition but his mind feeling as if it had been scrubbed raw and burned by the heat of the sun.

The sun?

It was then that he noticed a pale light washing over him and the ruins. Their shadows stretched out along the broken courtyard, giving it the appearance of a shattered checkerboard covered in light and shadow. The setting sun was visible even through the thick woods.

Setting?

As he watched, transfixed, the sun dipped lower until there was nothing left but a sliver of bright light. Within moments, the great orb of fire was gone, leaving only a weak, fading light in its wake.

Lancer cursed. "So I took that long to recharge?" He frowned. "Well, I guess that's good time. I thought it'd have taken longer than a day, but this ley line is in good condition despite that witch's tampering." He murmured to himself, relishing in being able to speak and feel without someone peeking into his thoughts.

As soon as his mind formed those words, though, the ground rumbled beneath him, and a splitting pain assailed Lancer's head. He winced and stabbed Gae Bolg into the ground to steady himself as the cracked ground groaned and protested the sudden shuddering of Ryudou Mountain.

And as quickly as it had begun, it was over. The localized earthquake stopped, and with it, Lancer's split second headache.

The blue warrior blinked a few times and shook his head, and out of the corner of his eye he spotted a mop of crimson hair ducking behind one of the few standing walls of the temple.

He ran as if possessed towards the spot, but as he skidded to a halt he saw no trace of the mysterious figure. Had it simply been his imagination?

As soon as he entertained the thought, he caught another glimpse of the figure, this time making out what seemed like a modern suit before it disappeared behind a pile of wreckage.

His heart thudding in his chest, Lancer sprinted across the space between him and his target, but as soon as he arrived he realized that no one was there. No, in the first place, he was the only one who had set foot in Ryudou Temple for several days. No foot prints had disturbed the dust save his own, and there was no unfamiliar scent in the air.

Still, as he saw the definitely human figure duck beneath a slab of stone, Lancer knew that he wasn't imagining it. No, he knew that red hair. He knew that suit. And he definitely knew the face he'd glimpsed for only a moment. He'd seen her.

Or had he?

"Oy, get a fucking grip." He muttered as he clutched his suddenly pounding head. "No time for stupid flashbacks. What was I going to do next?" He frowned as he forced his mind away from uncomfortable topics and possible hallucinations, and blinked suddenly.

"Oh, right." He nodded to himself. "I told the kid I'd contact Saber for a rematch when I was ready." Truthfully, he still had a day before he needed to cash in on that particular promise, but the wrecked temple was too creepy to stay in for any longer than was necessary, and a walk around the city wouldn't do him any harm.

But just as he was preparing to leave, he stiffened as he heard the sound of slow, measured footsteps coming up the stairs. Someone was coming, and by the sounds and pace, Lancer almost immediately realized who.

The spearman materialized Gae Bolg, still chipped and cracked, and flipped it behind his head, letting his hands and neck hold its weight. The blood in his body boiled, and he clenched his teeth, preparing to slice apart the person who would appear in moments.

And appear he did. Kotomine Kirei strode gracefully through the gate, his priest attire clashing with what remained of Ryudou Temple's traditional Japanese décor. He glanced at Lancer, bristling and ready to kill, and smiled.

"I thought it would find you here." The man said, satisfied with himself.

"And this was the last place I'd expect to see your ungrateful smirk." Lancer growled. All thoughts of hallucinations and reminiscing left his head as he felt an almost overpowering hatred take hold of his body. "What's wrong? Realized I couldn't kill you at the church and decided to come here to die?"

"Nothing of the sort." Kotomine said, adjusting his uniform. "Unlike you, I am performing my duties in this War. As the representative of the Church, it is my responsibility to repair any damage caused by battles between Masters and Servants." The priest gestured to the wrecked temple, not perturbed in the slightest by Lancer's open hostility.

"Oh sure, I'm to believe you're finally getting to it after having forgotten about your job for days on end?" Lancer said, still angry. "And you chose to come here, knowing I'd be waiting for you? You must really have a death wish, Master." He spat out the praising title as if it was an insult.

"I did choose to leave the temple in such a horrible condition, yes." Kotomine admitted. "It was difficult taking care of the hundred or so monks that inhabited the temple as you battled within it. Such things are quite taxing on the body, especially after many consecutive uses."

"Eh? There were people there?" Lancer frowned. "I didn't notice."

"Heroes seldom do." Kotomine agreed, striding over to the ruined gate and placing his hand upon it. The priest spoke in a conversational tone, as if speaking to an old friend or impatient student. It was not the words of a Master to his Servant, nor those of a warrior to his enemy. "In this case, they had been put to sleep by Caster before the battle, and hooked up to her field as prana batteries. In case you care, which you don't, most of them survived, although many of them were burnt to a crisp from the strain, and most will suffer for the rest of their lives." Kotomine looked at Lancer and shook his head slowly, the ghost of a smile upon his lips. "You folk tend to either ignore those beneath you or play with them for sport. I'm curious about which you chose during your short life."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lancer ignored the question. But even as his hatred intensified, he found himself lowering Gae Bolg. As Kotomine picked up pieces of the shattered gate and began putting them back together, the spearman sighed. "But I don't really give a damn. If there's an enemy before me, I cut him down. It's as simple as that."

"What a boring answer." Kotomine's reply was simple. He finished putting the gate back together and moved onto the crumbling sections of wall. Lancer followed, partly out of amusement, and partly because of a twisted sense of curiosity.

"I know what you did." Lancer broke the silence first. "Did you have fun screwing with my head there, priest? I'm sure you and Goldie, who you neglected to mention was a fucking _Servant_, just loved watching me kick ass."

"I did not force you to do anything, Lancer." Kotomine said as the wall before him crumbled in reverse, with pieces of dust and rock flying together to form a smooth, solid surface. "The only orders I have given you are the ones granted to me by the command spells I possess, no more, no less. I'll admit that I widened the bond between us slightly, but that was merely to ensure that I could call upon you at any time without using one of my command spells."

"Call me? Why?" Lancer asked.

In response, Kotomine raised a hand and allowed the sleeve of his robe to fall. His forearm was covered in scars. Lancer hissed, and Kotomine smirked. "Although it is my duty to accept the sins and confessions of others, it does not extend to suffering alongside sinners." Kotomine said. "And I learn from my mistakes, Lancer, so you can be sure you won't lose another Master like you did before." Lancer was trembling now, but the priest continued speaking without pause. "Yes, unlike your previous Master, I shall endeavor to ensure that the only way for me to be defeated is for the killer to go through you first."

Lancer roared. He didn't know when he had moved, or how the large, splintered log in his hand had suddenly become as light as a feather, but as he charged and brought the weapon down upon Kotomine, he felt the power of a command spell halt his body.

"**You will not harm me.**" Kotomine said, looking easily at Lancer as he invoked a third absolute command against the feisty Servant. As Lancer choked and fell to the ground clutching his chest, Kotomine turned away.

"Is this how a hero acts?" He asked as he strolled across the perimeter of the temple, restoring the wall with a brush of his hand. "I had thought you a man with a code, Lancer, yet here you are attempting to kill your Master. Is that what passed for loyalty when you were alive?"

"You're not my Master." Lancer said weakly as he tried to breathe air into lungs that revolted against his control. "She was my Master, not you!"

"No, I am your Master." Kotomine said. "You yourself recognized it. You told me that the one who holds the Command Spells is the Master, and acknowledged me as yours, albeit reluctantly."

Lancer pulled himself up, his hands empty of weaponry but his eyes still glaring daggers at Kotomine. "You _were_ my Master." He coughed. "But not anymore. I've had enough of you fucking with me. Yeah, I was willing to go along with you before, because I knew you held the Command Spells." And then Kotomine stopped, and Lancer smiled. "But it's over now. You've used up all three, and you can't control me anymore. You've forfeited your power as a Master." The spearman inhaled and exhaled slowly, bringing his breathing and body under control once more.

Lancer straightened his back, grinning triumphantly despite his sorry state. "And it worked. I got you to use your third and last seal. I'll admit, it was a risky plan. You could've ordered me to kill myself or surrender all my inhibitions, but all you ordered me to do was not to harm you." The young Servant laughed. "As if I'd kill you like that! No, Kotomine Kirei, you're not worth my spear. You're not even worth my time. But still, I'll kill you."

"Hm? Why would you want to kill me?" Kotomine asked, looking genuinely curious for once even as he completely ignored the rest of Lancer's words. "Sure it isn't because I killed your first Master, is it?"

"And what if it is?" Lancer asked, cocking his head to the side and materializing Gae Bolg, although he couldn't step within 10 meters of the priest.

"That's unusual, then." Before they knew it, they were back at the gate. The wall was as good as new, leaving only the temple in the center, falling apart from the stress it had received earlier. "I was sure that you had accepted her death, but are you saying that this resentment is what drives you to wish me dead?" Genuinely curious now, Kotomine knelt to the ground and poured prana into the broken down temple, reinforcing and fixing its structure.

"Yeah." Lancer said. "What of it?"

"Then you have failed as a Servant." Kotomine said. "In the first place, I can tell that your so called wish for revenge is as false as your existence. You yourself told me you barely knew your Master before being parted from her. Any attachment you feel is weak, and thus, so is your resolve."

"…what?" Lancer paused. For a moment, his world seemed to go white, and an aching pain struck his chest in the same spot where the possessed Sakura had stabbed him earlier. "You… what the hell are you saying, you damned priest!?"

"I'm saying that you are lying to yourself, Lancer." Kotomine finally turned towards his rebellious Servant and shook his head. He wasn't smiling anymore. "I would have expected such behaviour from an ordinary human or a magus, but not from one who considers himself to be a hero, and especially not from you."

"Revenge is a perfectly fine motivation." Lancer found himself saying. It wasn't that he wasn't angry. On the contrary, the rage within him felt like it could explode at any moment. But he simply couldn't find it within himself to attack. Or rather, every time he so much as considered killing Kotomine, his mind wandered to another topic instead. "I've killed plenty of people for revenge. Hell, I'm pretty sure most of the heroes you speak of fought for revenge as well. What's wrong with me wanting some now?"

"The problem, Lancer, lies in that your resolve is shallow." Kotomine spoke. As the priest droned on, it occurred to Lancer that this was the first time he had truly even spoken to the man who killed his first Master. And as much as he had despised the man before, he couldn't deny that the priest's words were powerful. "In the first place, you only knew your Master for about a day or so before I killed her. There was little time to form any proper attachment. It certainly couldn't be anything worth vowing revenge for."

Lancer moved to speak, but Kotomine continued talking with no pause.

"I've studied it, you know." Kotomine said. "The tales of you heroes are very well crafted, always containing the same basic elements and symbolism. Take you, for instance." He pointed a finger at Lancer as the temple rebuilt itself behind him. "Your death is something that occurred as a result of your own actions. By breaking your promises in life, you weakened yourself and as a result, died."

Lancer trembled with rage suppressed only by the Command Spell keeping him in check. "Fuck. You." He growled. "I don't regret a single thing that happened to me, and if I had to, I'd do it all again."

Kotomine tilted his head as he listened to his Servant's words. "But would you?" He asked. "From what I can recall, your insistence on having your child's mother vow never to have him reveal his identity to you is what directly caused his death by your hand. Are you saying that you would slaughter him again?"

"Don't." Lancer breathed. His eyes were wide, one more so than the other, and muscles clenched. For a moment, he appeared as a terrible, mismatched monster instead of the hero he was. "Don't you dare. Go any further, Kotomine, and I'll have you dead before me. I might not be able to kill your sorry ass, but I can sure as hell help Saber end your life, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"True, true." Kotomine nodded. "I suppose I should still be worried about the last opponent we must face. But she won't be much of a threat before you and Gilgamesh."

"What makes you think I'll help you?" Lancer said. "No, you've wasted your Command Spells, so you're my Master in name only. I'll make an exception and team up with her. Do you really think that gold bastard you pulled out of nowhere can fight the two of us at once?"

"I most certainly can, dog."

The familiar voice came from the skies. Lancer blinked and looked upward, where he saw what appeared to be a giant gold fighter jet descending. He prepared to fly at it, but it disappeared as Gilgamesh gracefully dropped to the ground, clad in his golden armour, with two nondescript human sized lumps falling to the ground beside him. "Can a dog and a frail woman crush a King?" He said, smirking. "Even if a thousand of you pathetic excuses for heroes fought me, I would have no trouble defeating you."

"So you're just as arrogant as ever." Lancer observed as the King straightened and walked over to Kotomine. "What brings you here, oh King of Heroes?"

"I asked him to come." Kotomine answered before Gilgamesh could. The King frowned at the interruption, but nodded as he stood before the slowly rebuilding temple.

"Surely even you can sense it, pup." The man said. "This shall be the final night of the 5th Grail war. I was sorely disappointed by the rest, so I'm not expecting much, but nonetheless it should prove at least slightly amusing. Try not to die to quickly against Saber, will you? It's probably asking for too much from a mongrel such as you, but I expect an entertaining battle."

"Oh? And what makes you think I don't plan on killing you right now, Goldie?" Gae Bolg materialized, and all of the pent up hostility Lancer had been unable to vent against Kotomine returned in a wave of resentment and hatred. He snarled and crouched low, his hands tightening around the haft of his spear, his body coiling like a spring ready to snap.

"Typical of a mutt." Gilgamesh said easily. All of the anger he had displayed days before was gone, and the regal man now stood easily, showing no signs of stress. Like Kotomine, he was perfectly relaxed, a fact which irked Lancer to no end. "Kotomine, this is your fault. If a dog bites the hand which feeds it, the fault lies with the Master, not the Servant."

"He has been quite rebellious, yes." Kotomine said as the rebuilt temple shudder and groaned, wood warping to its previous form. "Perhaps it would have been a good idea to let him go instead of keeping him as my Servant. But dwelling on possible mistakes is never a good idea, and he has been quite interesting so far."

"Indeed. Watching his suffering the past few days has been the highlight of this war, although it isn't saying much." Gilgamesh agreed.

"Oy… would you two stop talking as if I'm not here!?" Lancer roared.

Gilgamesh glanced at him and shrugged. "Oh, fine. If you really wish to fight me, then I suppose I'll play with you." The air behind him rippled, and several weapons protruded from empty space. "What was that game people play with their pets? Catch, was it?" He looked at the hero before him and grinned. "I do not play games for children. No, we shall be playing Dodge."

There was no other warning. One moment the weapons in the Gate floated in mid air, and the next, they streaked through the sky faster than the sound of their own flight, each one aimed at Lancer, aiming to decapitate, kill, bludgeon, and maim.

He was five steps away before they reached his old position.

The barrage of light ended as quickly as it had begun, with the only difference being several large craters in the ground to Lancer's right.

"While I have no right to request anything of you, it wasn't exactly easy to fix this place." Kotomine said as Gilgamesh fired another volley of swords and Lancer dodged them with ease. He looked mournfully at the temple, soon to be wrecked once more, and sighed.

Not being dying and barely able to stand, Lancer found it much easier to stay alive this time around. He watched as a glittering claymore sprung from mid air, propelled by nothing more than Gilgamesh's will and whatever force was launching it. The gold encrusted weapon struck the ground, inches from Lancer's foot, and a web of cracks spread around it as the ancient weapon sunk to the hilt into the solid stone.

The next weapon was completely different. A scimitar spun through the air, the wind around it making it spin even faster. Lancer tried to dodge this one, but as his legs pushed him to the side, the curved blade's path in the air changed to compensate, and he was forced to clumsily deflect it with a hasty swing from Gae Bolg. He watched in slow motion as the makeshift projectile spun off into the air, the magic surrounding it not powerful enough to counter a hero's swing. But at the same time, the haft of Gae Bolg cracked where it had struck the weapon, and Lancer realized the problem as a large axe descended upon him.

He jumped backwards, hitting top speed in a fraction of a second, and the large weapon split the earth where it struck, creating a localized earthquake that forced the man to jump into the air before the Phantasm's effect shattered his legs.

And it was then that about 50 knives materialized around him, in a perfect circle, each one intricately carved with runes he'd never seen before, all pointed directly at him. Time seemed to freeze, and Lancer examined each and every one, knowing that a direct hit would mean certain death.

Gilgamesh snapped his fingers.

The knives flew as one, closing in on the airborne Lancer, who could no longer dodge without ground under his feet. It was a certain kill. No way to dodge, and even if a form of propulsion could be found, nowhere to go, surrounded in every direction. A perfect trap.

Lancer twisted, and Gae Bolg moved through the air like a snake in a hurricane. Knives flew at him, yet his lance was there, sending them in completely different directions with the minimum necessary movements. He arched his back, letting a dagger fly underneath, and rolled in mid air, allowing a barrage from both up and down to fly past him. Gae Bolg diverted half a dozen daggers, spinning like a mad top, and a hastily conjured rune shield managed to slow down a few more long enough for Lancer to move his head out of the way. One sliced a few hairs off, but he was unharmed.

But another dagger headed straight for his eyes, along with over half of the weapons, each unimpeded by the man's last ditch defense.

Gilgamesh blinked, and Lancer was on the ground, the King's weapons surrounding him, with not a single drop of blood spilt. The spearman grinned, the tip of a knife clutched between his teeth, and spat out the intruder, letting it fall to the ground.

"Is that it?" Lancer asked.

"Not nearly." Gilgamesh replied. "So far I suppose you're worthy of facing me. It seems like Kirei wasn't wrong when he told me you were the best Servant when it comes to surviving."

"Praise from you? I'd feel honoured if I cared about what you have to say." Lancer droned as he glanced down at Gae Bolg.

It wasn't pretty. Deflecting Noble Phantasms had taken its toll, and the crimson spear was covered in cracks, with its blade missing bits here and there. It was still sharp, but wouldn't hold out much longer, especially if he had to push it just to survive. No, a prolonged battle would only benefit Gilgamesh in this situation.

Thankfully for Lancer, it was at that moment that help decided to arrive, although from an unexpected source.

"ARCHER!" The angry roar was unmistakeably Saber's, and as the blonde warrior's petite body dashed through the gate, Gilgamesh was forced to summon a crystal shield just to parry her all out attack. The protection cracked as Saber's invisible blade struck it, and shattered as the rest of her continued, barrelling through the shield as if it had never been there. Saber swung at the King's head, faster than she had before and it was only a hastily summoned great sword that prevented decapitation. He backpedaled, stalling Saber by throwing dozens of weapons at her, forcing her to jump back instead of attempting to block them.

"Oh? So you're here?" The Golden King said, his eyes sparkling with barely suppressed glee. "That was very quick." He examined the blade he'd used to block her strike. It was broken off at the middle, the top of the blade stuck point first in the ground. "My, my." He said. "Someone's angry."

"Where is my Master, Archer!?" Saber yelled, panting and trying to regain her composure, which had been thoroughly shattered. "What did you do to him?"

"Oh, you mean the whelp?" Gilgamesh blinked, and then chuckled. "He was so insignificant that I forgot all about him. But now that you've reminded me, yes, I do think there was a red haired rat that I stopped to pick up and execute."

He snapped his fingers, and Kotomine held up the human sized lump that Lancer had spotted and dismissed earlier, revealing it to be a large burlap sack. He opened it, and the bleeding head of Emiya Shirou was revealed, his eyes closed and his breathing shallow. "You might have missed a spot, Gilgamesh." Kotomine said. "He's still breathing."

"Oh? Perhaps I underestimated the cockroach's tenacity." The King replied. "You're welcome to finish him off, then. From what I recall, you have a certain grudge against the name 'Emiya', Kotomine."

"Kotomine… I know that name." Saber's eyes opened wide in realization. A half remembered memory returned to her, a name said once in the last Grail War, almost as an afterthought. Emiya Kiritsugu's most fearsome opponent. "You… Kiritsugu mentioned you." She said.

"Did he now?" Kotomine chuckled as he pulled the handle of a knife out of his robes. "Did he mention how much he feared me?" The handle glowed, and a blade materialized, conveniently placed underneath the unconscious Shirou's chin. As the boy's eyes fluttered open, the priest spoke. "How much I scared him? Because I knew the foolishness of his desire, and the suffering it would bring?"

Saber was silent, and Shirou, now completely awake, inhaled sharply as he realized his position. He looked up at Kirei, even more surprised now. "W-weren't you supposed to be the Supervisor of the Grail War?" He asked numbly. "You can't be a Master!"

"Rules are merely things humans invented to keep from killing each other." Kirei said gently. "I can choose not to follow them, or the teachings forced upon me. But it seems you've chosen the same path as your father, and I can already tell that it will lead to your death. Thus, you've bored me, Emiya Shirou."

With a sharp movement, Kotomine drew the Black Key across Shirou's throat, allowing the boy's crimson lifeblood to bleed onto the stone steps of Ryudou Temple.

Or at least, that's what he would've done, had a crimson spear not smashed the weapon out of his hands. Lancer grabbed Shirou by the scruff of his neck, and yanked the boy out of Kotomine's arms before jumping backwards again.

"You ordered me not to harm you, Master." The spearman spat. "But you never said anything about disobeying you. And with no more command spells to use against me, you can only consider me your enemy." He grinned triumphantly as Kotomine frowned, and the sound of canvas shuffling behind him told Lancer that Shirou was quickly rising as if uninjured.

"Hmph." Kotomine frowned, Gilgamesh chuckled, amused by the whole situation, and Saber relaxed, relieved that the boy she still considered her Master was safe.

Lancer was just glad he'd been able to one up the damn priest for once.

But then the man spoke once more.

"Lancer." Kotomine Kirei said, raising his hand once more. "It seems there is a grave misunderstanding here."

Shirou rose, glaring daggers at Kotomine, but Lancer shook his head slowly, the grin on his face still there. "How so, you damned priest?" He asked. "You've got nothing. I'm the fastest Servant for a reason. Do you really think King Goldilocks over there can catch me if I'm fleeing, with an angry woman on his tail? Face it, I've got you good."

"And there lies the crux of the matter." Kotomine said. The sleeve of his robe fell back, revealing countless glowing marks on his arm. "Lancer." Kotomine smiled.

"Since when were you under the impression that I only possessed three Command Spells?"

"**Kill Emiya Shirou**."

Blood coloured Lancer's armour red, and he looked back, his eyes wide open, as Shirou fell lifelessly to the ground, Gae Bolg lodged in his chest once more.


	27. Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Closing the Circle

Someone was screaming.

As Lancer's body and mind froze, his senses told him that someone was screaming, cursing the heavens, Kotomine, Gilgamesh, and most importantly, CuChulainn.

His eyes registered a blue blur flying towards him, faster than even he could go. It held a sword that glowed with the promise of victory, its eyes filled with incomprehensible rage and sorrow.

The air rumbled, and it was as if it had turned to water. Time seemed to move slowly, and he could make out every detail in the shape of the sword heading towards his neck.

Gae Bolg was no longer in his hands, but lodged in Emiya Shirou's chest. His runes could not stop Saber's mad rush, and his speed would not be enough.

Lancer closed his eyes.

She struck him, then, but not in the way he had hoped. Her body knocked his off balance, and Lancer tumbled backwards until he lay on his back, staring up at the night sky, or rather, Saber's murderous glare.

The Servant of the Sword straddled her once more enemy to stop him from moving, and smashed him in the face with a prana burst enhanced punch. His head was whipped to the side, ears ringing, but she didn't let up. Again, she struck, forgoing her weapon in favour of simply beating him until he couldn't move.

A blow sent his head in the other direction, and spurts of blood and teeth flew from his mouth. Lancer couldn't summon the focus needed to throw her off, and he found that he didn't wish to.

"You!" Every punch was weaker than the last. Although his face felt like a mess, the actual damage was nothing to worry about. Without her holy blade, Saber's strikes were like those of a child. Her gauntlets might as well have been gloves for all the good they did. It was plain to see that she'd never been trained in hand to hand combat before.

A strike caught Lancer between the eyes, and his vision broke into glowing stars for a moment. When he focused his eyes again, he saw an even more peculiar sight. His vision must not have been recovered, since he could have sworn that Saber was crying, her young face less occupied by rage and more by open grief. This was not a warrior mourning the death of an ally, but a girl crying because of a broken heart. It was rather unexpected, not because of a lack of empathy, but because Lancer had expected Saber to keep her composure despite it all. Was she truly fragile enough to crack like that in the midst of battle?

But that moment of weakness, whether or not it had existed, ended instantly. Lancer and Saber made eye contact, and he nodded weakly, unable to bring himself to move any more. "Go." He croaked. "Don't let him win."

One more punch struck his nose directly, but it was the strike of a sad girl, not that of a trained warrior. It barely caused a nosebleed, but to Saber, it was enough. She rose to her feet, sparing Shirou's limp body a single, brief glance, and looked away before her heart could break completely. Her expression hardened once more, and levelled her glare at her next target, the priest standing and grinning less than a hundred meters away.

Kotomine nodded. "Painful, isn't it? But it's your own fault." He said. "You overstepped the bounds of a Servant and Master relationship. Actually, he wasn't even your Master anymore. You, who have sacrificed so many, should have no problem rationalizing a single boy's death."

"You are correct." Saber's voice was hoarse from her previous screams. But her glare was chilling. "You are correct." She repeated. "But regardless, I cannot let someone like you live, Kotomine Kirei. Despite everything, this rage I feel will not be satisfied until your head is at my feet."

There was no other warning. One moment she was standing, her invisible sword back in her hands, and the next she was speeding towards Kotomine, preparing to slice his head off.

She never made it. Halfway through her leap, she twisted in the air and knocked away several swords that appeared right next to her. She frowned, and twisted again, landing sideways on a golden shield that materialized right in front of Kotomine, and pushing off to avoid the large hammer that would've smashed her into the ground.

"Archer." She growled. "So you will deny my revenge?"

"I care not for your wishes, Saber." Gilgamesh said, sipping from a glass of wine as red as the blood pouring from Shirou's chest. "But that enraged expression on your face is very beautiful, and I shall see more of it."

Saber frowned, but showed no other reaction. Instead, she tensed, and shot towards Gilgamesh like a bright blue blur, her blade descending to rip him apart. Only her target had changed, but her methods remained the same.

Lancer heard sounds of battle and strife, but he didn't react to them, choosing instead to lay on his back and stare at the sky. His cheek hurt. Not the rest of his body, which had been subjected to Saber's powerful blows, but the place where she'd throw her last, weak punch. Was that what grief felt like?

Amidst the sounds of battle, Lancer made out calm footsteps striding towards him. He glanced up.

"What do you want now, Kotomine?" He asked weakly, suddenly too tired to hate the man before him. "Want me to kill myself? With all those extra command seals you pulled out of nowhere, you can probably order me to do anything."

"That would be foolish." Kotomine said. Lancer pushed himself up into a crouch and frowned as he saw the other bag Gilgamesh had brought at Kotomine's side, lying next to Shirou's body. The boy had died instantly, just like the previous time. He hadn't even had enough time to feel pain before his heart stopped beating.

"I don't get it." Lancer said suddenly, as he and his Master watched Saber battle against Gilgamesh. "Why did you do it?" He asked. "The kid wasn't even a Master anymore. I know you're an evil son of a bitch, but I don't see why you'd waste a Command Spell on having me kill that kid again."

"Because I am not a fool." Kotomine said. "That boy's power could have freed you from my influence, so I took steps to make sure that wouldn't happen. My own wishes came second to that."

"Right." Lancer found himself nodding. "I don't think I've ever hated anyone as much as I hate you right now." He confessed. "If I had the Grail in my arms right now, I'd probably just wish for it to kill you as painfully as possible."

"Then you are directing your hate in the wrong direction." Kotomine replied easily.

The battle before them was a spectacle worthy of the Grail War. Saber and Gilgamesh were both at their best, and the clash was something that even Lancer had to respect. As Gilgamesh let loose with a rain of Noble Phantasms that could level nations, Saber fought through each one, deflecting or dodging, acting seemingly on instinct and nothing else. Her speed and power couldn't be compared to her previous self. This was Saber at her best, closest to her true strength. It was a shame, or rather, fortunate that Rin wasn't there to see her Servant battling. Even Lancer admitted to himself that he would probably lose against Saber if they seriously fought.

And yet for all her strength, Saber couldn't keep up with the King of Heroes.

Gilgamesh laughed as one of his phantasms scratched Saber's cheek, and she collapsed to one knee, momentarily weakened by the poison coated weapon. She slowed imperceptibly, and a large axe impacted directly against her hasty guard, shaking her arms with the effort of deflecting it and sending up sparks as the ancient blade ground against the barrier of wind that surrounded Saber's invisible blade.

"Do you think she hates you?" Kotomine asked suddenly. "You have slaughtered more of her allies than any enemy. You killed the boy she loves and his woman, in front of her eyes. She has every reason to despise your actions."

Lancer blinked. "No. She's too rational to hate me. She may dislike me on principle, but Saber's a hero. She'd never let something as irrational as baseless hatred colour her words."

"Yes, that is one of her traits that she shared with Emiya Kiritsugu." Kotomine agreed. "The Servant you see before you has never once acted illogically, always doing the right thing, no matter what the cost." The priest suddenly frowned. "I've always disliked that trait."

"Heh. I suppose logic wouldn't have much to do with faith, would it?" Lancer chuckled, but didn't smile. As he saw Saber continue to struggle against a superior opponent, the only thing he could think of was how useless it all was.

"It is not faith." Kotomine said. His eyes gazed into the distance, past the fight before him and into the endless horizon. "She is throwing away her humanity. Just like him. But you are different." He turned his gaze upon Lancer and smiled, sending shivers down the hero's spine. "Yes." Kotomine agreed. "The laws that drive you are of your own creation. Your logic is alien, yet so incredibly human that I cannot help but admire it."

"Your approval fills me with shame." Lancer said weakly, unable to glare at the priest without the command spell siphoning away his anger.

"It's actually why I released you." Kotomine continued, kneeling down and opening the bag on the ground. "Because I realized that if I kept you shackled by my command spell, your end would be incredibly predictable, and thus, extremely boring."

"…that's why you ordered me to kill all the Servants?" Lancer whispered in disbelief. "Because you were fucking _bored_?"

"I wished to see it." Kotomine said as he extracted the sleeping Ilyasveil von Einzbern from her cloth prison. He looked down, almost wistful as he played with a lock of the girl's snow white hair. Although she was merely a homunculus, the priest saw someone else in her place. "I wanted to see if you, a hero, could change, given a second chance to choose his fate. I wanted to know if it was even possible, for one so set in his own ways to defy the fate that killed him and achieve something more. That was the miracle I sought from you, as foolish as it was."

"Miracle?" One word answers was all Lancer could give. He didn't understand this man. No, he couldn't allow himself to understand Kotomine Kirei. Doing so would mean something much worse than death, something that should never be comprehended.

Kotomine blinked and looked up at Lancer, no longer smiling. "Yes, a miracle." He said. "Perhaps it was weakness on my part, a final attempt at revenge from the 'me' that I betrayed so long ago. It may surprise you, but I once wished for nothing more than to live a virtuous life."

"Heh. Now I know you're lying. You, virtuous? You'd have an easier time convincing Goldie over there to lend you money." Lancer said, now on his knees and glancing back and forth between the battle and Kotomine.

"Laugh if you wish." Kotomine muttered as he placed his hand on Ilya's forehead and muttered a few words under his breath. "The vessel is almost full." He declared. "One more should do it. The next Servant that dies shall fill it, and make the acquirement of a miracle possible. Once Saber dies, you will have your wish as the last remaining Servant of the Fifth Holy Grail War."

"Eh?" A glimmer of hope entered Lancer's eyes before he viciously quashed it. "You're joking, aren't you?"

"I do not lie." Kotomine said. "Gilgamesh is not a part of this war, and thus you and Saber are the final contestants. Whichever one survives will receive a wish, as per the rules. All you have to do now is stay where you are and see the battle to its conclusion, and you'll receive your wish, the one you've worked so hard to get."

For a moment, there was nothing but the sounds of battle, and then Lancer forced himself to his feet with a grunt, Gae Bolg back in his hands, the tip dripping with blood. "As if." The spearman muttered. "A victory like that isn't a victory at all."

"So I was correct after all." Kotomine said. Lancer turned and faced his Master. For the first time, they stared into each other's eyes as equals.

"Say it." Lancer said firmly. "Get it off your chest. You may be a piece of crap, but you hold the Command Spells, so you're my Master."

"It's nothing, merely that I was proven right." Kotomine said. He looked at Lancer, eyes skimming over the cracked spear and fiery yet empty eyes.

"You haven't changed at all." The priest said. "When I released you to make your choice, you embarked upon the same path as you did in life. You made the same choices, received the same results, and followed the same fate. In short, you haven't learned a thing."

Lancer frowned, and Kotomine continued speaking.

"I do not claim to be a history enthusiast, but the parallels are too obvious to ignore. You killed a watchdog, or rather, Rider, and swore to take its place. You then befriended an enemy, Emiya Shirou, or Ferdiad, if you wish. You bedded Aife and left her the very same night. You destroyed an enemy with skin that could not be broken using unconventional tactics. You killed the people closest to you with the very same spear you carry, yet you don't relinquish it. With your promises broken, your allies dead by your hand, and your wishes left unfulfilled, you march without regret into your own death. Thus, you've done nothing but relive a shadow of your own life, Cu Chulainn. Even when fate gave you a second chance, you squandered it, throwing it away because you couldn't let go of your own past. People cannot change who they are, any more than you can change your fate. I do not know if it was destiny that led to this, or your own flawed self, but regardless, my expectations have been completely destroyed. Even after your death, the fate that killed you hasn't released your soul."

Lancer opened his mouth to say something, anything, but Kotomine cut him off. "You cannot disprove reality with your weak protests, Lancer. All you can do is make your choice. I offer you one last opportunity here. Do nothing. Wait, and allow Saber to die a hero's death. Then you will have won, and the Grail will be yours. You can bring back your first Master and fulfill your promises. You can change your fate and prove that you are the master of your own destiny."

The priest gestured towards the battle. "Or you can embrace your fate, and go off to fight against the undefeatable enemy. You will die, as is ordained, and you will have gained nothing. The circle of fate that rules your life will close once more, leaving you a slave to it. There is nothing here but you. Both choices are something you are capable of doing. And before you claim to have something else make that choice for you, **I release you of any command pertaining to this War**." The dim glow of a command spell vanishing proved the priest's sincerity.

Lancer smiled.

"Kotomine, I hate your guts, but sometimes you can say a few interesting things." He looked at the priest, for the first time truly understanding the man's motivations. "But you're forgetting something important."

Gae Bolg glowed, and Lancer traced his hand along the spear's length, marking countless runes on it, gather prana within the weapon. Glowing green energy gathered in its cracks and illuminated them, reinforcing the spear's structure and strengthening it.

"I'm a hero." Lancer said as he traced even more runes, on his body this time. On his forehead, a single mark shone, promising victory despite the incredible odds against it. "You're right." He confessed. "I'm probably not all that interested in second chances, but the opportunity to correct those mistakes, to finally get rid of those oaths I couldn't fulfill, it was too much to refuse such a thing."

His entire body was covered in runes. Runes for power. Runes for speed. Runes to keep his mind and weapon sharp. The spearman poured all of his knowledge into transforming himself into a perfect warrior.

And he glanced at Shirou, the boy's eyes closed and expression almost peaceful. "Heh. 'We always have a choice', was it?" Lancer chuckled, smiling as he recalled his best friend's dying words. "But you've made a mistake, Kirei. Sure, I'll admit that me beating that guy is impossible, even if I team up with Saber. He's probably the strongest guy I've ever met, even if he's an insufferable asshole."

Then he leveled his lance at Gilgamesh, turning away from his mistakes. "But I'm a hero." Lancer repeated. "And a hero is one who makes the impossible… possible! If I gave up like you asked me to, then I wouldn't be me! I'll show you the miracle you've been looking for, by beating that guy!"

No more words needed to be said. Cu Chulainn was many things, but he wasn't a man who would run from his destiny. No, he would face it head on with the intention of triumphing, just like he had always done.

Saber fell to one knee, the various small wounds all over her body sapping her of her strength. As formidable as she was, she couldn't stand against an endless armoury of Noble Phantasms, each more powerful than the other. Gilgamesh walked to her, smiling serenely the entire time.

"It was enjoyable, Saber, but alas, I have no more wish to indulge your petty tantrum." He materialized a golden blade in his hand and swung it around lightly, testing its unfamiliar weight. "I will not aim to kill you." He announced. "But if you are not able to survive my attack, then you are unworthy of surviving my love!"

He brought the sword down, but Saber retaliated by swinging her own up, matching the King's blow with what little strength remained in her arms. Gilgamesh took a step back, but frowned and pushed with both hands, gradually bringing down Saber's blade until his own was merely centimeters from her neck.

And then his eyes widened, and he spun hastily, summoning a large shield to stop the blue and red blur that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, its tip aiming to stab through the King of Heroes. The shield cracked as Lancer met it, and then shattered completely after barely a moment.

But more appeared beneath it, each one serving as a brief deterrent to Lancer's inexhaustible rush. Gilgamesh stumbled backwards as Gae Bolg broke through the final defense and scratched his cheek, cursing all the while. He swung his hand, knocking away the red lance aiming for his head, summoning several golden weapons to guard his body in the mean time.

"You!" He roared as he sent his Phantasms flying towards Lancer. But the hero was already gone, his speed vastly outstripping that of the weapons assailing him. He was already on the other side of Gilgamesh, helping Saber up.

"C'mon, we can finish our duel after we kick this guy's ass." He said, and the blonde warrior nodded weakly, pushing back her anger as her mind started calculating the odds of victory.

"The odds are against us." She said.

"Hasn't stopped me before." Lancer replied, casually knocking away a golden spear aimed at his head. "He's nothing compared to Berserker, anyway."

Saber smiled, melancholy marring her false happiness. "Yes." She agreed. "That man was a much more formidable opponent."

"And you, Goldie? You're just a golden bug that we're gonna squash." Lancer grinned.

Gilgamesh responded by opening the Gate of Babylon all the way. More than a hundred weapons appeared behind him, each one as glorious as Lancer and Saber's Phantasms. The splendour of a King's endless armoury was displayed, grand enough to bring lesser men to their knees.

But not a hero.

Saber and Lancer separated as the space between them was torn apart by a swarm of knives. They swung around and approached Gilgamesh at an angle, strafing past his fire as if dodging bullets. The phantasms that missed them tore up the recently repaired temple grounds, although none struck Kotomine and Ilya.

Abruptly, as if following a preordained signal, both Lancer and Saber dashed in towards the King of Heroes. He split his fire in two, and Saber responded by releasing the wind spell around her blade, blasting away the barrage of blades with a gust of air that sent her crashing through both the sound barrier and any defense the King dared to put up. Lancer, meanwhile, simply knocked away each and every Noble Phantasm sent in his direction using nothing but pure skill, his enhanced speed just barely enough to deal with the assault.

As the same time, both Saber's golden blade and Gae Bolg descended upon Gilgamesh.

Only to be stopped by a bright blue shield, shaped like a flower with four petals. It was obviously in a completely different league than the other shields Gilgamesh had brought up, as it stopped both strikes simultaneously, with the only visible damage being one petal cracking slightly.

For a moment, Saber and Lancer froze, and it was enough. Gilgamesh materialized two identical short swords into his hands and swung outwards, catching both of his opponents mid retreat. He grinned as he felt both blades slicing flesh.

"Gh." Lancer's only reaction to having his stomach sliced open was a slight tightening of his neck muscles, and Saber's was similar. Although the wound was much deeper than her others, it wasn't enough to cripple her. The two Servants backed away with their free hands holding their wounds closed, putting as much distance between them and Gilgamesh as they could after the failed attack.

"Come, where is the talk of you squashing me like a bug?" Gilgamesh shrugged, the two swords in his hands disappearing into thin air. "I am still waiting for you two to start taking this seriously. Only I have the right to play around."

"Saber." Lancer frowned. "I don't think attacking normally is gonna work here. We'll have to use our Noble Phantasms."

Saber nodded firmly. "He is not an opponent we can beat through skill alone. Although I dislike revealing my Noble Phantasm when there is still an enemy left, it can't be helped."

"Can you distract this moron?" Lancer asked as he drew a few runes to bind his wounds temporarily. "If you can keep him in one place for a few seconds, I'll be able to take him out for sure."

"I can manage." Saber said, her grip on her ornate sword tightening as she poured her prana into it. "But you will only have one chance. Do not fail."

No further words needed to be said, except one.

Saber raised her blade, and for the first time, Lancer was able to see it in its full glory. The delicate artwork on the guard, the glow that reminded him of the sun, it was all honed to perfection. Just looking upon it felt like seeing the pinnacle of heroism, something all heroes aspired to. For a single moment he wished to hold the sword in his hands.

And then Saber swung it down, bringing thousands of units of prana with it. She roared, her voice and the sword in her hands promising nothing less than certain victory.

"**EXCALIBUR!"**

The beam of light that streaked towards Gilgamesh was even brighter than the sun. Its glory was overpowering, and Lancer knew that no matter what he did, he would never be able to overpower it. No, even attempting to survive it was an act of futility, and impossibility that not even he could hope to accomplish. Not even all the weapons in Gilgamesh's arsenal would ever be able to match the splendour of such an attack.

All, save one.

The flower shield appeared again, a lone bulwark in the face of Excalibur's overwhelming force. Placed in front of Gilgamesh, it faced the beam of light the eclipsed the sun directly, stopping the unbeatable attack short. Or at least that was what it might have done. What actually happened was the torrent of prana slowing for one tiny moment, then incinerating the defensive Phantasm as if it had never been there. All four petals shattered at once, having only managed to delay Excalibur.

But that delay was enough. As soon as the bright light of Excalibur washed away the flower shield, another light appeared to face it. A swirling red hurricane, tearing apart space and growing endlessly as it moved forward to annihilate anything before its might.

It was that sword again. The conical, segmented blade that Gilgamesh had been unable to use that day. Against Excalibur, he released it. The segments turned, creating a vicious wind that only grew larger and larger. As his attack clashed against the white light, it seemed like a tiny gust of wind in the endless light.

And it grew.

Excalibur halted. The unstoppable force was countered with a force equal to it. The unwavering white light faced a crimson typhoon that rent space and time asunder, destroying reality itself. If Excalibur was unstoppable force, then its opponent was that which rendered unstoppable force meaningless. Slowly but surely, Excalibur's light faded.

Gilgamesh, holding the spinning sword in his hands, grinned. "Impressive, Saber! That holy blade of yours is truly magnificent, even for something not belonging to me! But there can only be one blade carrying the title of strongest, and that is Ea!"

Another man would have wondered for a moment if something was wrong. Another would have questioned why Lancer wasn't there, why the spearman had simply disappeared from battle. But Gilgamesh wasn't an ordinary man.

No, he knew exactly what Lancer was doing.

"**Gae…!"** On the other side of the exchange of Phantasms, almost a hundred meters into the air, Lancer pulled back, preparing to throw Gae Bolg like a javelin. All of his prana was in the spear, concentrated into a single, deadly point. His muscles stretched to the limit, and his spear almost bursting with prana it couldn't contain, Lancer prepared to throw.

Gilgamesh glanced up, and smirked.

"**Bolg!"** And Gae Bolg left Lancer's hands, sailing smoothly from his fingertips like a schooner from her port. A red bullet that promised a different sort of death than Excalibur, it nonetheless carried enough power to level a large building. Not even his fancy armour or shields would save Gilgamesh from being pierced by the Spear of Striking Death.

Yes, it was Lancer's ultimate, quickly improvised plan. Surely the King of Heroes possessed powerful Phantasms in his arsenal. But, unable to activate them, there would be no way for him to simultaneously survive two attacks of such power!

Gilgamesh frowned as he saw the missile heading his way. He then tilted his head. "Ah, I thought I recognized that spear."

A single weapon sailed out of the Gate of Babylon. Perfectly aimed, it shot forward even faster than Gae Bolg's charged descent, meeting the spear head on, clashing perfectly with the flying death sentence.

Were it any other weapon, it would have failed. Even Excalibur would have failed. Durandal, Joyeuse, Harpe, all would have been knocked aside instantly. But this was different.

The spear that opposed Lancer's attack was none other than Gae Bolg itself.

They were identical. The two weapons, or rather, the two separate instances of a single weapon collided in mid air, Lancer's, and Gilgamesh's. It was something that could not be. Identical in almost every way, it was a clash that should never have occurred, something whose very existence challenged the reality of the world. But nonetheless, Gae Bolg struck its twin, the mirror images clashing to see the difference between the real and the mirror.

The cracked and chipped lance shattered instantly, and Gae Bolg flew true, instantly piercing the heart of its owner and releasing thousands of thorns, tearing apart his body from the inside out.

Lancer crumpled as he hit the ground, and Saber was blasted back as her attack finally died away. Subject to the raging winds of Ea, her armour was instantly shredded, along with most of her body. She struck the temple like a rock, badly injured, but alive.

The same could not be said of Lancer. He croaked as he felt a sensation that was alien yet intimately familiar. It could not be, yet it was. As thousands of thorns wormed their way through his body, tearing it apart from the inside out, he couldn't help but sigh, even with his heart and lungs torn apart.

So Kotomine had been right after all.

Gilgamesh walked over to his defeated opponent and shook his head. "A formidable effort, even for a half dead mutt." The King offered the slightest praise he could muster. "It was a battle truly worthy of a hero. But in the end, using an inferior copy proved your downfall. If you truly wished to defeat me, Child of Light, then you should have brought a better weapon."

Lancer chuckled weakly, blood flowing freely from his lips. Even as he felt death encroaching upon his body, he moved. His left hand was mostly gone, but his right retained some feeling. Ignoring the spear sticking out of his chest, he raised his hand and used the last dregs of his prana to materialize his Gae Bolg, or at least what remained, just part of the shaft and nothing else.

His lips moved, drawing in the last of his remaining breath to speak once more. The light in his eyes had mostly faded, but nonetheless he glared at Gilgamesh, unwilling to lose even as death claimed him once more.

"**Gae… Bolg."** He invoked the power of his spear one last time. It had failed him again, just as it had before. But regardless, he would believe in his weapon to the end. As someone who hadn't given up even when disemboweled and strapped to rock because he couldn't stand, letting this be the end would be a disgrace to his legend.

"Hm?" Gilgamesh tilted his head. "What do you intend to do with that pile of splinters, whelp?"

Lancer grinned, and forced every single drop of the prana making up his body into what was left of his spear, calling upon his very existence to power the shattered Phantasm one more time.

"**The Thousand Impaling Thorns!"**

The broken weapon shivered and twitched. All around the battlefield, fragments held together by only a single curse trembled as they remembered their purpose.

Pierce the heart.

Even broken, that would not change. Gae Bolg existed to slaughter and kill, and it would become a rain of death to accomplish that objective.

Tear apart the body.

Lancer called upon the curse that had taken the lives of his friends and family, of everyone he had ever held affection for. He invoked it, demanding one last favour from the demonic spear in his hands. Vengeance that could not be stopped. A will that would never fade. If weapons truly reflected their owners, then even death would not be enough to stop the Spear of Impaling Barbed Death from killing.

Impale. Stab. Crush. Kill.

From all directions, the shattered spear came together, following its curse and aiming to strike the heart of its enemy. Gilgamesh realized too late his own mistake, raising his arms to defend himself. But it was useless. For a weapon that reversed cause and effect, a simple defense would do nothing.

The King screamed as shards of wood and metal pierced his body from all directions. His armour deflected some, but Lancer's Noble Phantasm was undeterred. His ornate armour cracked under the strain, warping and bending. His beautiful face was ruined, marred by a hundred new scars. As the final revenge of the man he had defeated desecrated his body, Gilgamesh proclaimed his anger to the heavens.

But Lancer could not hear it.

His body had already started fading away.

The man known as Cu Chulainn stared at the sky, unable to move a muscle anymore. He couldn't feel his hands, most likely because they had already disappeared, but his eyes still worked, and he could still see the night sky full of stars.

It was a familiar sight. Hadn't it ended like that the first time? No matter how far apart his two lives were, the end was the same. The night sky hadn't changed a bit even after hundreds of years, just like the man who would spend his last moments staring at it. Had he changed at all? Was Kotomine right?

Well, it didn't really matter in the end. Cu Chulainn had failed, betrayed his friends, killed those closest to him, and gone willingly into a battle he wouldn't survive. But he'd stayed true to his pride, and that was all that mattered.

Right?

His body completely gone, Lancer's five senses stopped working. He was simply a soul now, destined to return to the Throne of Heroes. As he died, Lancer finally relaxed, allowing his tired body and mind to be swept away by the current of life and death.

The gate to Akasha was already open for him. The swirling spiral of the root of existence welcomed him, and soon he'd reach the castle in the sky, the Throne where he would sit for the rest of eternity. Perhaps there he'd be able to understand the Kotomine's word. Perhaps there he would figure out the right choice.

But before he could descend into the swirl, before he could leave the mortal plane, a net neatly caught the floating hero's soul. Unable to struggle, only dimly aware of his surroundings Lancer felt his existence twist and turn, captured by the power of the Holy Grail.

He descended into a tower of darkness. Once a grand place, he could sense corruption dripping from the walls, smothering what was had at one point been a miraculous creation with hatred and evil. Powerless to stop his fate, Lancer could only dimly sense as he drifted into a large, circular room with seven vessels inside it.

Five of the vessels were already full, brimming with prana. The presences inside felt familiar, but he couldn't make out why. The closest one seemed an awful lot like Assassin, but that was impossible. Assassin was dead.

Oh. So that was it.

If he were capable of screaming, Lancer would have. If he could have done anything to stop one of the empty vessels from sucking in his floating soul, he would have done it without hesitation. At that moment, he would have willingly slaughtered an entire village simply to escape the fate he had consigned himself to.

But he could do nothing. As the loser, the only thing he could do was exist.

Within the vessel was pain. He could feel it, siphoning away parts of his being and turning them into pure prana. In a few hours, nothing would remain of the hero he was but a few floating scraps. He would become fuel for a miracle, turned into prana to power the Holy Grail.

So this was why he could never remember any other Grail Wars. Not a single soul had returned to the Throne of Heroes whole. And he'd assumed that he would receive yet another chance? Such arrogance could only be rewarded by hell.

Soundlessly, wordlessly, thoughtlessly, Lancer screamed. Heard by none, unable to mourn his mistakes, his soul was ground into magical dust.

A fitting end for a hero.


	28. Last HollowEpisode

Emiya Shirou made his way up the hill. Although he'd been there a few times before, it felt as if the road under his feet was lengthening, making his journey longer than ever. He pushed down the fear in his chest once more and trudged forward, moving towards what he knew would be the climax of his battle.

It wasn't that he was nervous, he realized. It was that there was something very _off_ about the whole situation. What was it? He was in perfect shape. His body had no wounds, and his circuits were operating at full capacity. If he needed to, he'd be able to project Kanshou and Byakuya, even that nameless blade he'd picked up off Ryudou temple's steps. So what was wrong?

He was alone.

Yes, that had to be it. No Saber by his side. No Tohsaka to rely on. There would be no powerful warrior or wise magus helping him today. This was his battle, and no one else's. An impossible hurdle that he would have to overcome on his own.

Well, not quite on his own.

"Hey. You're early." The spearman in blue waved as Shirou crested a bump in the road. Leaning against a tree with Gae Bolg nowhere in sight, Lancer seemed as relaxed as ever, even as Shirou stiffened upon seeing him. The boy involuntarily clutched his chest, feeling phantom pain throb in it as he recalled the red spear that had pierced it.

"I could say the same about you." Shirou finally said.

"It's not like I had anything better to do, so I decided to wait here." Lancer said, shrugging. "Besides, this ain't really the kind of thing you can be late to. I wouldn't have blamed you if you decided to run away at the last second, kid."

"Maybe, but you certainly would've thought less of me for it." Shirou replied, still too nervous to relax in front of Lancer. Yet another strange occurrence. He'd had no problem speaking to the Servant the previous day, but all of a sudden it felt as if he was looking at yet another enemy. Even his so called ally felt like someone waiting to stab him in the back.

"Heh. You're finally getting it." Lancer chuckled. He stood up to his full height and ran a hand through his hair as he looked at the bright church on the hill. "So, you ready?"

"Yeah." Shirou said. "Have you figured out a way to beat her Noble Phantasm? I've been wracking my brains all night, but I haven't been able to think of a thing."

"I've got a few ideas." Lancer said. "Don't worry about it and leave the fighting to me. Just stand back and watch me do all the tough stuff."

"Hey, my part is difficult too!" Shirou protested. "I'm the one who has to actually end it!"

"It won't be difficult." Lancer said with a grin. "That Shadowy Servant of hers is incredibly weak. Even someone like you would be able to take it down as long as you copy Assassin's blade."

"I'm not worried about me." Shirou replied. "Sure, it'll be hard, but I'm more worried about you. Fragarach is-."

"Fragarach is just a weapon." Lancer cut the boy off. "Don't let things like power or flashiness confuse you. In a battle, it rarely ever comes down to who's got the better arsenal. That's why humanity invented the idea of skill and training in the first place. That lady may be good, but she's not as good as me. Chances are I'll be able to take her down without her even getting to use it."

Shirou nodded. He wanted to say something, but the almost imperceptible throbbing in his chest held back his words. Yeah, there was definitely something going on that he couldn't understand.

"So you noticed it too?" Lancer said, finally seeming to actually look Shirou in the eye. "I didn't think you would, but perhaps you're the real thing after all." The spearman's smiled again, but even Shirou could tell this one was forced. "Sorry, but you'll have to put up with that feeling."

"It's just a premonition." Shirou replied as he and Lancer walked up the seemingly endless hill. "It'll pass soon enough."

"If only the world were that kind." Was all Lancer said before they crested the top and reached the church's front yard.

The building was gone. Instead of the entrance to a false house of God, there was merely a void in reality, opening up to pure darkness that seemed to leak into the world, a blot of ink spreading through the canvas of reality. Though they had seen it moments before, the church on the hill was no more.

Shirou shuddered, and Gae Bolg leapt unbidden to Lancer's hand. He looked at the weapon, not expecting it to be whole and in his hand. But what else would it be like? His weapon had never broken, after all. No, not once.

Standing before the rift were two figures, one unmistakeably human, and the other insubstantial and wispy, as if it was a shadow that had risen from the ground.

The human looked up, and her eyes hardened as she caught sight of Lancer and Shirou. She straightened and tightened the plated gloves on her hands. She took a step forward, raising her fists.

"No further." Bazett Fraga McRemitz declared. "Turn back, dreamers. This isn't where you should be."

"No, it is!" Shirou took a step forward, anger surging through his veins. This was her. The magus who had killed Tohsaka and Archer. The woman who had slain Saber, his Servant. The Master that had singlehandedly taken down every Servant the Grail War had to offer. The unbeatable rune master of the Fraga clan, and his opponent. "No more." He said. "I don't know who you are or why you're fighting, but someone like you can't be allowed to win the Heaven's Feel!"

"If you know nothing, boy," Bazett said, brushing a strand of crimson hair from her eyes. "Then leave. You are only a former Master with no Servant. You know you are no threat to me, so cherish what you have left, even if it's only a falsehood. There is nothing for you here."

"You're here, and so is that Servant of yours." Shirou declared, not backing off despite Bazett's muted response. "The Grail isn't something that should grant a person like you a wish, so I'm not going to risk the destruction of the world for it."

"The Grail?" Bazett chuckled. "That piece of junk can't do anything right. If that's what you're worried about, then don't. I wouldn't be able to use that thing even if I wanted to. And besides, my wish was already granted, if only for a short time." Her eyes flickered momentarily towards Lancer before she looked away. "I won't say it again. Leave or I will use force. You should already know you can't win."

**"Why so soft, Master?"** The shadow cackled behind her. **"Why not just kill them and get it over with? If they leave, they'll only delay the inevitable by a few minutes at best. Come midnight, this sham of a War will be over and the Grail will begin preparing the next one. So why not have a blast and go out with a bang? Isn't that what people like these days?"**

"Shut up." Bazett's cool façade slipped as she snapped at the Shadow, but then she sighed and put on her poker face once more. "I'd rather not make it painful. Better to fall asleep and wake up than to be killed and shoved back into a life you don't need."

"See, that right there is just dumb, lady." Lancer spoke up for the first time since arriving. "If it were me choosing, I'd pick dying every time. What's the use in croaking peacefully and being forgotten when you can be remembered as a hero who died in action?"

"Because no one will remember you." Bazett growled. "You're not a hero, stranger. You're just someone who thinks he can be a legend. Legends are legends for a reason. They simply don't exist anymore. If you die, that's the end, so you might as well make it a happy one."

"Bullshit." Lancer said. "Legends exist. They're the guys who saw destiny coming and decided to spit in its face. They're the people who decided to die for something other than themselves. That's what a hero is."

Bazett finally allowed herself to look straight at Lancer. She took in his cocky posture, his demonic spear, and his battle ready outfit.

Then she frowned. "But you're not a hero." She said softly. Lancer stiffened, and she kept going. "Not anymore, at least. Cu Chulainn the hero died a long time ago, and no one can change that. But Cu Chulainn the human was never given a chance to live, so he has no idea what it means to live for himself. And most likely, he never will."

"It's unnecessary." Lancer brandished Gae Bolg and its familiar power. "Don't go sticking your theories where they aren't needed. I was happy living the way I did, and I was perfectly content with the way I died. As far as I'm concerned, being a Servant is just icing on the cake."

His words seemed to strike a chord within Bazett, and she raised her fists, sinking into a classic boxing stance. "Fine, then." She growled as her resolve grew. "If you're that set on dying again, I'll do you a favour and kill you now!"

She charged, and Lancer responded equally, dashing forward with the speed of the fastest Servant, instantly accelerating faster than Shirou could see. The boy only had a moment to stumble backwards before the sound on metal on metal screeched through the air.

Had he been a moment too late, his body would've been ripped to shreds in an instant.

Both combatants abruptly halted, a solitary meter separating them. But even as their forward motion ceased, the battle intensified. They both attacked simultaneously, Bazett with a lightning quick jab and Lancer with a flickering thrust. The attacks collided mid air, and the weapons retracted, preparing to fire once more.

A dozen. No, more than that. In the space of a single second, Lancer's spear and Bazett's fist struck each other several times, each one a death blow barely averted. Thrusts that could pierce even a God's armour and punches that could take off a man's head battled for supremacy and found themselves evenly matched.

Then Lancer disappeared.

Bazett spun in place, grabbing blindly on instinct.

Lancer's thrust, the unstoppable cannon that could blow through a wall without even slowing down, had been parried. He froze comically in mid air, his spear extended towards Bazett, just grazing her hair. But the tip lay clutched in her glove, sparking as the magus effortlessly held up both its weight and Lancer's with one hand.

Lancer spun, using Gae Bolg as an axis and kicking at Bazett's head with an armoured foot. She raised her free hand and caught the limb, but his second kick hit her stomach, forcing her to let go and jump backwards. She shook her head, not in the least winded from the Demigod's strike, and cracked her neck sharply. "Is that it?" She asked. "You're a Servant, aren't you? Should you really be allowing a human to block your attacks like this?"

Lancer simply grinned, and disappeared once more.

Bazett spun in place, raising her hand to slap aside another thrust from behind, then twisted her wrist in mid air, pulling both Gae Bolg and a surprised Lancer towards her. Her free fist found his face before he could block, and the sudden uppercut sent the spearman flying into the air, finally forcing him to let go of his weapon.

"You're good." He whispered, and then twisted in mid air, Gae Bolg disappearing from Bazett's grip and reappearing in his hands. He descended, this time swinging the red thorn like a sword, aiming to slice rather than pierce. Bazett raised an arm to catch the shaft on her reinforced suit and winced as she felt it impact against bone.

Using the sudden block as leverage, Lancer pushed off with Gae Bolg. The red spear sliced through Bazett's sleeve, and Lancer landed several meters away, crouched like an animal, with his spear ready to stab and slice even more.

He spat out a mouthful of blood. "Not bad at all." He said. "I'm impressed, girlie. Someone's been practicing."

Bazett simply raised her fists once more, still unperturbed by the prospect of battling the man who was once her Servant.

This time she inched forward, unwilling to play on the defensive. But even so, she didn't drop her stance, taking small steps forward without lowering her fists even slightly. Bazett kept her eyes fixed on the tip of Gae Bolg, so it didn't come as a surprise to her when Lancer chose to abandon thrusts entirely, grasping the shaft of the spear with both hands and swinging the weapon like a heavy axe.

As it sliced through the air towards her head, Bazett allowed her knees to bend slightly, and she ducked nimbly under the strike, weaving forward and pushing her way into close range before Lancer could recover.

A single jab blew past the Servant's hastily raised hand and smacked him in the face, sending his head whipping backwards. With a muffled curse, he looked forward, only to catch another on his left cheek, unable to stop Bazett now that she'd reached infighting range.

A flurry of punches left their mark on Lancer's body before he could retract his spear, but he caught Bazett's right straight on Gae Bolg's body, finally managing to bring the spear between him and her fists. The spear creaked, protesting being manhandled, and Lancer spun it in place like a quarterstaff, holding on to each end.

Bazett threw a left, but Lancer knocked it aside with the smallest of movements and smashed the other end of Gae Bolg into the woman's stomach. She stumbled, her hands falling from her guard, and he took the opportunity to push forward, seeking to take her off balance.

But it wasn't her stumbling. No, the hand that had previously been limp suddenly sprung upwards, curving around Gae Bolg's interfering shape to smash Lancer in the face with a ferocious hook.

The spearman was now the one to lose his footing, as his feet suddenly stopped obeying his commands. His ears rang, and he dully felt Bazett rearing up to unleash another straight.

In desperation, he swiped low with Gae Bolg. The spear moved ever so slowly through the suddenly muddy air, but it still struck Bazett in the back of the knee, knocking away her support. The punch she'd thrown blew past Lancer's shoulder, hitting nothing but air.

Both combatants immediately jumped back to recover, Lancer nursing his bruised face and Bazett favouring her right leg.

"Ow." The Servant remarked. "This isn't gonna do wonders for my good looks." He complained weakly, even as he spat out more blood.

"Come closer and I'll do the same for your other cheek." Bazett growled, suddenly angry for a reason Lancer couldn't fathom. She straightened, the only sign of a wounded leg being the slight shuddering of her knee. "Go on. Bring out your Noble Phantasm. Or do you think I'm not worth it?"

"I could kill you without it." Lancer retorted. "But then again, I could humour you. It's not gonna make a difference anyway. There's no way you can beat me."

"You? A small child you beat you, given the right vocabulary." Bazett replied, the fury on her face clearly visible.

"Do you have something against me?" Lancer finally asked. "I mean, I've fought plenty of angry blokes before, but you're acting like I killed your family or something even worse."

"It's nothing that bad. I just had the pleasure of finding out how much of an idiot you really are." The woman said. "And believe me, you've been found wanting. I can't believe I died for you of all people. To think I once idolized you…"

"This is one hell of a way to ask for an autograph, then." Lancer grinned. "How 'bout a kiss instead? I don't really like fighting women, so I'll let you off with five or six." He idly wiped away the blood dripping from his bruised face as he spoke, looking at the liquid with a casual interest, as if he'd never seen it before.

"You… insufferable idiot!" The last of Bazett's patience snapped, and she charged, completely dropping her stance in favour of launching one attack with all her power. She roared, seeking only to pummel the person before her.

So when Lancer casually ducked her blow, she didn't even have time to react. The spearman released Gae Bolg and lightly chopped the back of Bazett's neck. The magus went limp, and fell into her former Servant's arms.

"Well." He said. "That takes care of that. Kinda anticlimactic, but at least she didn't get to use that Noble Phantasm of hers." He turned to Shirou. "So, kid, how goes it on your… end…?"

**"Pretty good."** Shirou said, his skin darkening and his clothes reduced to tatters. The boy pushed back his suddenly pitch black hair and grinned. **"Been a while since I've had the pleasure of a working body, even if it doesn't really exist."**

"Ah, crap." Lancer grimaced. "Am I gonna have to kill you? I don't really want to, but if you're gonna fight me in that kid's body, you're not leaving me much of a choice."

**"No need for that."** Shirou replied. **"I'll disappear soon anyway. Just borrowing this idiot's shell will let me survive a bit longer even after the 'death' of my Master. Long enough to talk to you, at least."**

"Well speak up then." Lancer said. "I'll give you some time since I just got done with a satisfying fight, but that's it. Don't expect my patience to last forever."

**"I've been wondering about this." **Shirou said, giggling like a lunatic between words. **"What exactly is your idea of hell?"**

"Hell? Such a thing doesn't really exist, does it?" Lancer replied. "I can't really think of any situation that I'd consider worthy of the title. Why do you ask?"

**"Because I've been trying to find one, and it's been slow going."** Shirou admitted. **"You may not remember it, but I do. I've tried physical torture, mental evisceration, memory tampering, and even forcing you to relive your worst experiences, but your soul is remarkably resilient, even for a Servant. Most would've been instantly broken down upon death, but you've managed to retain your identity somehow. Is there truly nothing that will break you?"**

"I don't know what you're talking about, but it's annoying." Lancer growled. He summoned Gae Bolg once more and set the unconscious Bazett onto the ground. "Let me put it to you this way, punk. My idea of hell is having to listen to you talk. So either shut up, or eat my spear. Your choice."

Shirou tilted his head sideways. **"I'm impressed." **He said. **"If you really think you can fight me in that condition, then you're either much stronger or much more deluded than I thought you were. Do you really believe you'll be able to defeat me with your body like that?"**

"A few bruises never killed anybody." Lancer said. He felt blood dripping from the corner of his mouth again, and raised his left hand to wipe it off.

Or at least, tried to. A moment later, Lancer realized that the limb wasn't moving at all. He tried again, but no arm rose to his command, and the blood from his mouth only thickened.

He looked down, and realized exactly why he couldn't do such a simple thing.

He didn't have a left arm anymore. In fact, a giant chunk of his body was simply gone, as if gouged out by an enormous spoon. His heart was gone as well, along with most everything left of his spine. Blood rained from his mangled body, and breathing suddenly became twice as difficult with only a single working lung left.

Lancer coughed, expelling even more blood from his obliterated stomach. "What?" He choked on the guts and ruined flesh in his throat, falling to his knees as his body stopped being able to physically support itself.

The Servant's vision flickered as he looked at the unconscious Bazett. Only she wasn't unconscious. The eviscerated corpse of a dead woman lay before his eyes, her arm sliced off at the elbow and a gaping hole through her heart. Her wound didn't seem nearly as bad as his, but Lancer knew better. Anyone struck directly with Gae Bolg was doomed to death, no matter what. Just as doomed as himself.

**"You really are a beast in battle."** Shirou said. **"You didn't hold back at all even though she was your former Master. How cold of you, Servant of the Spear."**

"I… I didn't!" Lancer said, his once proud voice suddenly weak. "That's not what happened!"

**"Oh, but it is. I saw it myself."** Shirou said. **"You wasted no time, jumping straight to Noble Phantasms. In an instant, both of you were slain. A mutual kill. Fitting, isn't it?"**

"I didn't want to kill her." Lancer said. "I didn't mean to." All the strength left his body. He tried to summon up Gae Bolg, but all that appeared in his hand was a broken piece of wood. He stared at it blankly, perplexed.

**"No, you meant to. Otherwise she wouldn't be dead. I don't know what kind of dream you saw, but what happened is the only thing that could've. See, I've been thinking, and I realized the perfect way to get to you."** Shirou said. **"Instead of torturing you, I'd have you torture yourself. This is the last one. Every single vow you made, I've had you break. Every promise, every geas, gone. You've done everything you told the world you'd never do. And you did it all without my help. This is the final one? You swore to bring back this woman's life, but you couldn't even manage to preserve it."**

The boy raised his hands, creating a pair of swords. But these weren't Archer's blades, or Assassin's sword. No, the blades in his hands were more like red and black claws less suited for battle and more for some kind of sick ritual. **"Now then, I think I promised you something. Earlier you said you could beat me with one hand tied behind your back. I think this is close enough to that, don't you?" **Dark tattoos began to crawl up the boy's skin, and his amber eyes darkened to a dark, muddy brown.

As his once powerful body began to fail, Lancer's senses grew dull. But he could still hear the Shadow's words, and they stirred up a familiar feeling of anger within him. He couldn't express it, as much as he wished to, so it surged up futilely, overtaking all remaining rational thought. Memories returned, unbidden, as the border between life and death passed underneath. This wound was surely fatal. If the wound he'd received against Assassin had brought him near death, then this was definitely unrecoverable. A pierced spiritual core that wouldn't be able to keep his ethereal body in place, let alone his corporeal one. Despite it being in a completely different time and place, the experience was almost familiar…

**"Then again, what use would someone like you have for a wish?"**

And also: unacceptable.

He felt it. As Shirou walked up to his struggling consciousness and viciously plunged one of the ritualistic blades into his chest, Lancer felt the pain slice through his muddled anger. He let out a small grunt, all he could spare.

The boy laughed, and brought the other sword down to finish the job.

But it stopped just short of Lancer's head. The man's right arm, still whole, came up and caught Shirou's wrist, locking it in place.

**"-!"**

Had he been able to hear the boy's words of denial, Lancer would've laughed and said he'd been through worse, but he couldn't, so all he did was tighten his grip, crushing Shirou's wrist along with his hands.

His feet were still there. Lancer rose, straightening to his full height. His eyes weren't functioning, but that was fine. He could feel the mass of prana, the life and the sickly warmth in front of him.

He felt the sword leave his body and fly at his neck.

Lancer jerked his head to the side and caught the blade in between his teeth. He growled around the steel, neck muscles bulging as they worked to stop the attack of a supernaturally powerful being.

Lancer's leg came up, and Shirou crumpled with a hiss as he felt a knee strike his abdomen, rupturing several internal organs that would almost guarantee death for a normal person.

**"Ugh, is this Battle Continuation?" **The corrupted body spat out. **"No, mere skills like that can't exist here!"** Before he could speak any further, he found himself being pushed back. He frantically let go of his right blade as it shattered between Lancer's jaw, and created another as he felt his legs go limp. Lancer roared blindly, and ran forward, carrying Shirou with him. Even as his strength faded, the Servant threw what he had into his legs, propelling him and his enemy to a destination he couldn't see. With a scream of his own, Shirou shoved the sword into Lancer's chest, but the Servant ignored it as if it wasn't there.

**"You idiot, this will accomplish nothing!"**

Even if it didn't matter in the end.

**"You can't beat me! You can't do anything here!"**

Even if he couldn't win.

**"You've already failed! Get it through that thick skull of yours and accept your punishment!"**

Even if he was stuck in his fate, unable to change his destiny alone.

**"Why are you still struggling!?"**

If he gave up here, it would be a betrayal of everything Cu Chulainn believed in.

**"You aren't a hero! You're not going to be remembered! This is just a fake reality that never existed in the first place! You're just an inferior copy summoned from the throne! You've already broken every promise you ever made!" **

He wasn't Cu Chulainn. He couldn't even keep his promises or win a pointless fight. But nevertheless, he would stick by his beliefs to the end, even if he ended up killing everyone he cared for. And if this meant the end of a dying woman's last dream, then he'd take responsibility for that as well.

The edge of existence approached. The gash in the fabric of reality, replacing the church on the hill, was at Shirou's back. Too late, the Shadow realized where it was being taken, and for the first time in a long, long time, it knew fear.

**"Wait, wai-!"**

They fell through, and reality ceased to exist.

-

The river of prana had once been peaceful.

Once.

The previously placid stream of ethereal energy had quickened, becoming a raging torrent. Millions of units of prana were pumped through one of hundreds of channels, each one leading straight into the center of the Holy Grail. As the creation sensed the arrival of its awakening, it prepared to do the impossible and grant a single wish to whoever claimed it.

In the midst of the familiar yet different river, Lancer floated. The current buffeted him, rolling his body around wildly. Yet his body didn't even exist. In a corner of his mind, the Servant realized the truth. He had died, and all he was seeing was his own mind's representation of the Grail's inner system. A system that was slowly but surely dissolving his spiritual self into fuel for a wish.

But he didn't really care about such things. Rather, he was more focused on the figure in front of him, floating similarly in the current.

"You idiot." Bazett said as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. "You fool."

"Sorry." Lancer said automatically. "Don't really know why I'm apologizing, but I know making a beautiful lady like you cry isn't something I should be proud of."

"That's not going to cut it!" Bazett yelled, before taking a deep breath and forcing herself to calm down. "I was wrong about you." She finally said.

"In what way?" Lancer asked. "I mean, I ain't a perfect guy, but I like to think I'm not seriously fucked up in any way."

"You're not, and that's what makes it so aggravating." Bazett replied. "You still don't see what's so wrong!"

"Of course not, 'cus there's nothing wrong with me." Lancer said. "Really, even I can't understand what women think without a proper explanation."

Bazett opened her mouth to yell, stretching out a hand towards Lancer, when suddenly it disappeared. Both Servant and Master stared for a moment at the spot where Bazett's limb used to be.

"Oh." Lancer said. "Right, that. Listen, I'm sorry for not bringing you back to life, but it turns out Goldie was a bit too much for me to handle, so you'll have to bear with it."

"It's not that." Bazett said, looking forlornly at the stump of her arm. "Yes, it hurt, dying like that, but I was fine with it as long as you got to live. Except you didn't want to. You rejected my wish without even thinking."

"…it was impossible." Lancer said. He looked at his hand, knowing that it didn't even exist. "Cu Chulainn died hundreds of years ago. I'm just an inferior copy, like that Shadow said. Besides, I died content with my life. Why try to extend what ended properly?"

"Beacause!" Bazett cried, but said no more. She realized it, and so did Lancer. There was no reason. She had idolized Cu Chulainn from a young age, and he was her hero. She'd read his stories, and decided that his fated end wasn't what he deserved. And thus, her wish had been simple. To change his fate, so that he could live the life he never had. Even if he had chosen such a fate for himself, she had wanted to give him the chance to choose another.

"It's fine." Lancer said, smiling. "Thanks. I know it might not mean much here, but thank you. Even if it was only for a short time, being your Servant was a nice experience."

"I… wanted you to be happy. I thought I knew you, but-."

"You knew enough." The Servant pulled his dead Master into a hug, embracing her nonexistent form in the midst of the river of prana. "I should be the one apologizing. As your Servant, I failed you. If I have one regret in this war, it's letting you die."

"I can't believe you wanted to bring me back." Bazett said as tears ran freely from her eyes. "You're the worst. A hypocrite to the core."

"Yeah, you're right." Lancer admitted freely. "I guess I'm not Cu Chulainn after all. He would've never fought for a wish like that. He would've accepted his failure and never looked back, just like all the other times." He chuckled weakly. "Sorry, looks like you really did summon a shoddy copy of the real thing. The Grail should be giving you your money back for such a crappy imitation."

"Idiot. You're the real thing." Bazett let herself float away as she wiped her tears. "If you're going to keep trudging forward without thinking, then at least take pride in the knowledge that you're definitely a Legendary Soul, regardless of the container."

"I can't be proud of this." Lancer shook his head. "Kotomine was right. All I've done is repeat my mistakes. This war was nothing but me fucking up again and again."

"Don't say that!" Bazett yelled. Her anger was forced, but Lancer perked up at her words, if only slightly. "Don't just end it like that! You're still a hero, aren't you!? What happened to fighting against your destiny? What happened to struggling even though it's impossible to win!?"

"Master… it's impossible." Lancer said softly. "You know it, too. I tried, and I died. This is all that remains. You'd need a miracle to do anything here."

"So what?!" Bazett yelled. She seized Lancer by his armour and yanked him closer. "So what if you're already dead? So what if it's over? Look at me! I died days ago but I'm still struggling even now! Even if I'm wrong, even if I'm weak and even if I can't do anything, I'm still here!"

She abruptly seemed to deflate, losing all of her energy. "If I can do this much… can't you try, too? Didn't you say a hero is one who makes the impossible possible? Aren't you someone who fights to create a miracle himself!?"

"I…"

He couldn't respond. Not when he himself didn't know how to respond to his once Master's words. Could he say yes? Was he even worthy of agreeing with her?

Did he even want to?

His thoughts were in turmoil, so Lancer said nothing. Bazett met his confused gaze, not letting him look away. He knew if he didn't answer something even worse than death would follow. He had to say something. A denial or affirmation. Either would do, but refusing to answer the most honest question in the world was something he couldn't allow himself to do.

So Lancer said nothing, and silence fell upon the two souls floating freely in the shining river.

"Yeah, you're right."

He couldn't say that. She was wrong, he knew that. A hero wasn't one who did the impossible, but someone who accepted their destiny whilst simultaneously fighting against it, serving as a lesson in futility for future generations. So he couldn't fight. He'd already arrived at the end of his tale, with nothing left to show for it but a trail of bodies and a broken soul.

"No, you're wrong."

He couldn't say the either. Not when Bazett's words rang with such clear determination. He couldn't deny them in all their simplicity. Hadn't he always fought? He'd never run from his fate, no matter how horrible, but he had never stopped fighting, either. Wouldn't a denial be the most cowardly answer? Wouldn't it go against everything he believed in?

"You won't, will you?" Bazett whispered. She nodded sadly. "I understand. So that's how it is."

"No, it's not." Lancer said. "Listen. I know better than you what's going on here, so I can tell you that we're both doomed. There's nothing left here for us but death."

"So you won't fight, then?"

"No, I won't." The hero admitted. "But I do owe you, so I'll give you something else. A promise." His eyes softened. "Just name your wish." He said. "And I'll make it come true, even if it's only a dying dream. Even if it can't be done, I'll turn the miracle you asked for into a reality."

"Heh, some consolation prize." The redheaded woman said bitterly. She looked up at the man before her, for the first time seeing him not as an object of worship or affection, or a target of her hate, but as the person he had always been.

"Live." She said. "I don't care how, or why, or how long, but promise me that you'll live. Cling to life even if it's beyond you. Throw away everything just to survive. Even if you're already dead, don't go gently into the night. Fight for every breath, with everything you have. I don't care if you fail. I don't care if it isn't what you want. If you'll let me be selfish, then…"

"Yeah. It's a promise."

There was no need to finish her sentence. He'd already carved yet another vow into his soul.

"How many promises have you broken by now?" Bazett asked, still unconvinced. "I heard what Avenger said, there. Was it… hard?"

"Nah." Lancer said. "It was as easy as brushing aside a spider's web. That idiot never understood, even when he thought he had it."

He looked at his hands, imagining once more all the blood that they bore. "It was never about vows or promises or all those geasa I swore. It was always just me, trying to guide myself onto the path I wanted, and others who sought to guide me onto paths they chose. But I accepted that. Those chains were never to imprison me at all."

"But you broke your promises." Bazett said, puzzled. "Doesn't that mean…?"

"Yeah." Lancer nodded. "Life isn't that kind. Sometimes, no matter how much you struggle, destiny already has a plan for you. That's just how it is. I learned to accept that long ago. I'll struggle as much as I can, but in the end, I'll be content with where I end up no matter what. Well, that was the plan at least. I guess I can never keep from answering a pretty woman's request, even if it'll get me into trouble."

"Isn't that sad, though?" Bazett's voice was barely audible now. Lancer could feel the imagined world around them starting to fall apart as the river widened into the ocean that was the Grail.

Lancer laughed as the river began to fade along with his senses. "Sad?"

"Why would it be sad?"

-

It was dark, Lancer realized.

And cold.

He froze, the tiny movements of his soul ceasing as sheer lack of sensation or energy drained him of his vitality. His coffin was cramped, and he couldn't even muster enough strength to shiver. No, moving and speaking was something he was no longer capable of in his form. All that remained with darkness.

Simultaneously, he burned.

The heat was unbearable. The sun shaved off bits of his flesh, and he felt every unit of prana that made up his spirit slipping away, plucked by a hungry machine that wouldn't stop until he was gone. The Grail fed, and enjoyed its meal.

But most of all, he saw.

Through the darkness, through the light, through the wall that could not be breached, he saw.

A room built from dark matter, studded with stars and nebulas. A crystal design that curved in shapes too complex for humans to comprehend. A vortex in the center of the peaceful chaos, leading to the one place all magi sought.

He was in the core of the Holy Grail.

Lancer barely noticed the six other coffins surrounding the room. He was too occupied with trying to gather enough will to push away death.

His arms wouldn't move, he realized. Neither would the rest of his body. Chains surrounded him, pulling him to his doom, to that stone on the hill. He could not move. His bindings had risen, encroaching upon his body and soul so much that movement was impossible without breaking them in the process.

"Not… a problem."

So break them he did.

It really was quite easy. His bindings had never been particularly strong, and with the knowledge that none of it mattered, shattering his sense of self was simple.

Breaking through his prison, however, was not. Even as he grasped freedom, the container sealing his soul away wouldn't break so easily. Lancer pushed and pounded at the transparent lid of his coffin, but it didn't shift even slightly. His godlike strength couldn't budge it, and he had a feeling that neither would Berserker's. It was as if physical attacks were irrelevant from the beginning.

**"It won't work."** A familiar voice said. The Shadow appeared again, clawing its way out of a portal that disappeared as soon as Lancer tried to comprehend it. Avenger glanced his way.

**"Sorry, but you're stuck there. I couldn't break you out even if I felt like it." **The creature that had taken Shirou's form shrugged nonchalantly, walking around the circle and looking at the Servants trapped there.

"You… promised." Lancer said, weakly. He wasn't sure if his voice could penetrate the walls of his cage, or whether he was actually speaking or simply hallucinating, but Avenger reacted all the same.

**"A lot of people make promises. Some even mean them."** Avenger said, not bothering to look at Lancer. He passed a finger over what Lancer recognized as Rider's coffin, but there was no reaction from within. **"Very rarely do they manage to keep them. You know that very well."**

"Then why?" Lancer growled. He punched the glass wall with all the strength he could muster, but succeeded only in injuring his fist. "Are you still trying to torture me? I'm telling you now, it won't work!"

**"It's not about torture."** Avenger said. **"I figured you'd die like everyone else, so I said something to make you feel a bit worse before you died. I really didn't expect you to actually pull it off, as impossible as it was. But even then, I can't do anything."**

"You're the fucking Grail!" Lancer roared, boundless rage suddenly appearing from nowhere. He couldn't understand why he was so angry, and really couldn't bring himself to care. All he wanted to do was get out of his prison and tear something, someone apart. "You can do everything!"

Avenger paused and leaned against Berserker's coffin. Within, all that could be seen was the shell of what had once taken human form. All that remained of the might warrior was a memory. **"Well, not really. I gotta confess, I haven't exactly been honest with you. Then again, I never said I was the Grail. You just made that assumption yourself, didn't you?"**

"Then what the hell are you?" Lancer asked. The urge to destroy strengthened, and he felt his chest throb, as if an old wound was reopening. But when had he been stabbed in the heart?

**"It doesn't really matter. Think of me as someone who was dragged along for the ride. I can kinda walk around, do some sightseeing, and maybe drag a soul or two in here with me if they're close to death. But changing the system? Freeing a Servant who was already defeated? The Grail is the miracle worker, not me. Changing its programming is beyond anyone at this point."** The next coffin was Caster's. Her body floated numbly in the container, still whole but obviously fragmented. Avenger looked at her twisted, angry face and chuckled.

"So is that it?" Lancer asked. "Is it really impossible?"

**"Yup."** Avenger said. Strangely, the biting and sarcastic tone that Lancer had become used to was absent. The boy wasn't even smiling. **"You'll have to suffer now. Don't worry, it isn't actually an eternity. It'll just seem that way, but not for long. The mind is first to go, then the body. After that, the Grail will break you down into prana to fuel a single wish. That's how it goes."**

"No way," Lancer growled, his muscles clenching as he futilely tried to free himself. "Then what the hell did I do all that crap for? Why did I apologize to her? Why did I break these fucking chains if it's all going to be pointless in the end?" He should've accepted it as he always did, but once more, the burning rage drove all reason from his mind, accompanied by the feeling of a feminine hand curling around his heart.

**"Like I said, that's how it goes. A sacrifice is needed. There's no escaping that fact."** The last coffin before Lancer's belonged to Assassin. The Servant's body was still whole, and he twitched weakly when Avenger touched the surface of his cage. **"This is what normal people experience, y'know. Every person you killed, every person who died to further your climb to fame experienced this one way or another. This is the end of every story, including yours. Sorry, but there ain't gonna be a Deus Ex Machina to bust you out of there this time around, so you might as well die peacefully."**

"…no."

**"Again?"** Avenger asked. **"I know you're a stubborn one, but this is ridiculous. Aren't you capable of accepting when you've lost? I thought you of all people would be able to let it go."**

"Yeah, you're right." Lancer said. The pain in his chest was overwhelming. The feeling of a very familiar prana burning up his insides was almost unbearable, but he ignored it as if it was nothing. "I know when to give up. Like now. Like before. Like when I fought Goldie. There's nothing I can do here but die. It's not even about pride anymore. If it's just me, then I have no problem with dying."

**"Then why? Why fight?"** Avenger asked. Face to face with Lancer, the boy glared, demanding the answer to a question he'd been asking himself for thousands of years.

He couldn't breathe. The rage and anger and pain escalated, building up to a crescendo. He could feel the end coming, but at the same time, Lancer's limbs refused to stop moving. "I've fought for many things," he said. "For glory, for women, and for power. But right now, I'm fighting because I promised someone that I'd live."

His next punch was weak. Barely moving, the small fist touched the lid of the coffin with all the force Lancer could muster. It wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.

The lid dissolved in a burst of stardust, and Lancer fell forward, collapsing face first onto a spiral galaxy. He pulled himself up, moving limbs that felt awkward and weak, as if they hadn't been used in years.

**"What the… that shouldn't be possible."** Avenger said, looking genuinely surprised. **"If I can't do that, then there's no way you should be able to."**

"Hehe, guess you're not the only one with a few tricks up his sleeve." Lancer said, grinning. He managed to straighten his back, but almost immediately doubled over, clutching his chest. "Aaah…" He groaned. "Right, there's still this thing."

Avenger frowned. **"Let me see that."** He said. Without waiting for confirmation, he brushed aside the weak Servant's arms and took a good look at the man's chest.

There, right over his heart, was a spot of inky darkness no bigger than the tip of a finger. Avenger would've mistaken it for something else had he not sensed its magical signature. This was something he was very familiar with. Something he'd spent eternities occupying.

**"The Grail."** He whispered in disbelief. **"The Grail's prana. So that's how."**

"Huh?" Lancer pushed aside the boy and leaned against the side of his now unoccupied coffin. "Mind explaining, punk? I don't know what you're doing to me, but it's not gonna take me down that easily."

**"The only thing that can release a Servant who has already been captured is the Grail itself."** Avenger said. **"In other words, you need to match its magical signature. Somehow, there's a shard of the Lesser Grail embedded in your soul. It's supposed to act like the controller for the Greater Grail, so it would make sense for it to let you out. I don't know how or why it got there, but it's how you managed to break through your container. Even if it's just a tiny piece, that's enough to let you wake up."**

"Whatever." Lancer said, dismissing Avenger's words. "I don't really understand, but I don't care either so it evens out." He forced himself up, not even wincing as the pain doubled in intensity. He focused and his blue armour appeared around him in tatters, along with the broken shaft of Gae Bolg. "Tch, what a mess. That guy really did a number on me."

**"The Lesser Grail's shards… but where could it have come from?"** Avenger mused.

"Doesn't really matter. Anyway, I'm out of here." Lancer spun the broken off spear in one hand, getting used to its new weight. "C'mon, it's time to hold up your end of the bargain. Let me out already."

**"It's not that simple."** Avenger snapped. **"I already told you, I'm not that good. I can't just open the doors and let you waltz out of here. It doesn't work that way. The Grail requires a Servant's soul, and once it's registered the 6****th**** death, there's no leaving until that spot is filled."**

"So fill it." Lancer said, bored. "You're a Servant, so it should be fine if you get in there and spend a few years being tortured. It's the least you could do after what you did to me."

**"Hell no."** Avenger growled. **"I've seen enough suffering to last several life times. I'm sure has hell not going to suffer even more for an ungrateful prick like you."**

"Do I have to force you in there!?" Lancer brandished Gae Bolg.

**"Go ahead and try, you half dead dog!"** Avenger summoned the twisted twin blades once more.

"Oh shut up you two." A new voice interrupted the standoff. "I'll do it if you can't."

"Huh?" Both Servants turned as one to see a familiar face climbing into the open coffin. Bazett leaned back and closed her eyes.

"Wait, don't!" Lancer reached for the woman, but his fingers met an invisible wall before he could grab her arm and pull her out. The same barrier that had prevented his escape now stopped him from removing the coffin's new occupant.

"This is the only way, isn't it?" Bazett said, unnaturally calm for someone condemning herself to soul crushing torture. "The only way for you to return is for someone to take your place, so I should do just fine."

"That's not the point!" Lancer said. "Get out of there. You have no idea what you're signing up for!"

**"I didn't save your soul so you could sacrifice it on this idiot!"** Avenger agreed. **"Besides, you're not a Servant. An ordinary human soul isn't enough to power the Grail. You'll last only a short time before you're broken down for good!"**

"A short time is all Lancer needs, right?" Bazett folded her arms, or at least tried to before realizing one of them was still missing. "I'll temporarily take his place. It won't fool the Grail for long, but it'll be enough to let him return to the physical plane. It's not like there's anything else to do. I'm dead as it is, so I might as well do something useful with what's left of me."

"Hell no!" Lancer protested. He smashed his fist against the glass lid, but just like before it failed to make a dent. He tried to call up the strength that had let him open the door, but it was gone. "Dammit, I'm not going to rely on you to get me out of this mess!"

"Oh shut up and just go already." Bazett sighed. "Don't try to act all righteous now. You've already been relying on others just to get this far, so you might as well continue that way until the end. You've had plenty of allies killed, so this shouldn't be any different. Just fulfill that promise of yours already."

The spearman's eyes narrowed, and the broken spear in his hands cracked audibly as his hand tightened around it. He glared at Bazett, who returned his gaze with a weak smile.

"Do it." Lancer turned abruptly and looked away from Bazett. "Open the door, Shadow. Before I change my mind."

Avenger looked towards the coffin, his expression unreadable. **"I didn't save you for this."** He said, his voice devoid of emotion. **"I saved you because I wanted to grant someone's wish."**

"Sorry." Bazzet said. "But this is my wish. Thank you for helping me, but my physical body is dead. Outside of True Magic, there's no way to bring me back. At least this way I'll be able to do something before I move on for good."

Avenger bit back a curse. Instead of swearing or punching something in a fit of rage, he tapped the coffin's transparent lid with a finger. Darkness spread from the tip, engulfing the container. The last thing he saw of Bazett was a peaceful smile.

**"It's begun."** Avenger said.

The center of the room rumbled. A single star's light grew brighter, expanding as energy began to flow through it. Lancer took a step back as the galaxy under his feet zoomed towards the center along with everything else. A black, no, a white hole had formed, and the contents of the room were being sucked into it.

**"In there."** Avenger continued, emotionless once more. "With the defeat of the sixth Servant, the Grail has attained a limited wish granting capacity. Materialization of damaged souls is now possible. That hole will lead you to where you died."

"Thanks." Lancer said. He looked at his exit and back at where he knew his former Master's soul lay. He opened his mouth to speak, but reconsidered and shook his head. It was better this way. There was nothing he could say to make the situation any better, so all he could do was hold his head up and keep walking.

As Lancer took his first step towards freedom, however, he paused. Perhaps it was a premonition, perhaps simply luck. Or maybe it was a warrior's intuition. Either way, the result was the same. A piercing sensation in his foot as something stabbed through his ankle.

Most people wouldn't be able to move after getting a stake through the leg, but Lancer was no ordinary man. He whirled, swiping behind with Gae Bolg. The second metal stake bounced off his broken weapon, returning immediately to the hand of its wielder.

The woman had long, dark pink hair. Her blind fold was full of cracks, and seemed ready to fall off at any second. Her clothes were shredded, and the hole in her heart couldn't be more obvious. Yet before Lancer's eyes, Rider's wounds closed as dark tendrils of magic crawled across the dead Servant's skin.

"Haaaaaaaaah." She breathed, a raspy noise that could only be made with a cut throat. "You killed her… oath breaker."

"What the-!?" Lancer's reply was cut short as he instinctively dived to the side. A trio of daggers buried themselves into the floor where he'd been, just a tiny bit too slow to tag even a crippled speedster.

"Sandworm… sandworm…" Assassin growled. His skull mask sported a spider web of cracks, and his dark wrappings were tinged with red, both from his blood drenched arms and from the bloody gap where his heart should've been. The Servant jumped from his open coffin, landing next to Rider.

Lancer had no time to say anything. He raised his arm and was instantly blown backwards as a gigantic axe sword smashed into his hasty block. Gae Bolg's remains splintered, leaving the spearman with little more than a few sticks in his grasp. Lancer struck his closed coffin and felt his nonexistent organs rupture from the force of the strike he'd halted.

"_!"

Berserker's roar had been corrupted, much like the rest of his body. His grey skin was now a mess of roiling prana, God Hand dissolved from incompatibility with divine flesh. His eyes were gone completely, but he had still struck accurately even with no vision.

"Oh… shit." Lancer pushed himself up. "What the fuck is this?" He choked out, not expecting an answer, but getting one regardless.

**"I didn't think it could happen, but it did."** Avenger said, peeking out from behind Lancer's coffin. **"In response to you opening your prison, the Grail must've automatically released all the others temporarily to rein you in. They've been corrupted, transformed into the Grail's guardians."**

"That… doesn't sound good." Lancer said, breathing heavily and trying to get his bearings. As he watched, a woman in blood splattered robes clambered out of her coffin, followed by a man in red, curiously unchanged compared to the rest of the tainted Servants. All of them stood between Lancer and the light, preventing his escape from the Grail's heart.

**"It isn't."** Avenger said, a tinge of fear and awe permeating his voice. **"I've never seen anything like this before… it's as if it doesn't want you to leave."**

"So this place still had a trump card, huh?" Lancer spat out a mouthful of blood as he sized up his familiar yet different opponents. "Well, got any tricks left, kid?"

**"I'm not a kid!"** Avenger snapped. **"And no, I've got nothing. They won't attack me because I'm part of the Grail, but it's different for you. They'll show no mercy. And what's more, since those Servants are supposed to be fueling your revival, as long as they're out here the Grail won't be able to let you out at all."**

"Huh. Well, that's certainly not the best situation." Lancer said.

**"Not the best? Not the best!? It's fucking hopeless, you idiot!" **Avenger yelled. The corrupted Servants lined up, daring Lancer to approach and promising certain death. **"Even with me and Bazett on your side, even with that shard of the Lesser Grail showing up out of nowhere, even with your Master sacrificing herself to give your sorry ass a chance, it's still all for nothing!"**

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Lancer agreed. "But that's how it works, boy. Even if you think you've won, life's always got something left to throw at you. Kinda nostalgic, really."

**"Yeah, if you count getting violently murdered as something nostalgic."** Avenger cursed. For the first time, the spirit seemed to be genuinely angry. **"Dammit, this is what I get for trying to bring my hopes up. I should never have tried to save that woman."**

"Can she see me?" Lancer asked.

**"Huh?"**

"Can she see me?" Lancer repeated, not turning around. "Right now, can Bazett see me?"

**"…yeah, she can."** Avenger said numbly. **"Even though you're dead, your souls are still bound by the Grail War. She's observing you until your soul is destroyed. So yeah, she can see you failing and getting torn apart."**

Lancer grinned. "Then that's enough." He traced runes in the air, his hands a blur. "That's all I needed to hear."

**"What are you gonna do?"** Avenger asked. **"You can't win against 5 Servants at once, much less in your condition."**

"Hm, let's see. Body, pretty beat up but alive. Heart feels like someone's trying to rip it out… again. Gae Bolg's sawdust at this point, and I think I'm pretty much out of prana." Lancer noted, spinning his broken spear in the air. Bit by bit, shards of wood and steel gathered together, temporarily piecing together the broken weapon.

Avenger looked at the scene before him, all hope gone from his eyes. **"What are you going to do, Lancer?"** He asked again.

The other man just grinned.

"I suppose," Lancer said. "I'll have to get serious."


End file.
